Always Listen To Your Elders
by Jadeah
Summary: When Yusuf doesn't take Ezio's warning seriously, he finds himself in a difficult situation.
1. Chapter 1

Hardly a sound was audible throughout the assassin headquarters as the Master Assasin made his way into the library to where Ezio's desk sat, undisturbed. He smiled to himself when he detected no sign of the older man.

One thing he noticed since the first key was found, was that Ezio refused to let anyone touch it. For reason's Yusuf wasn't entirely sure. Now he was curious enough, after hearing his friend muttering about some Altair person and throwing knives, where he dared to ignore the warning and stud the glowing golden disks anyways.

On the wooden table sat two of the artifacts, emmiting bright yellow light from the crevases that made sharp patterns in the surface. Carefully, he picked the closer one to him up, holding the warm, light piece of metal in his palm as he looked it over with interest. "Now why did Ezio think it best to avoid anyone touching these?" He pondered aloud.

With that, the disk flashed brightly, and in his shock, the Assassin almost dropped it. Effects came quickly, far too quickly for him to handle. His head pulsed as pain overrided his senses. He didn't know if he screamed or not, but he was sure that he dropped the disk in his agony.

If only he had listened...

* * *

><p>He came slowly back to his senses, soon to realize he had collapsed on the floor. The world was spinning, the floor was shaking, and he couldn't keep his thoughts straight. With clumsiness, he stood up, and fell fowards on his hands and feet. He dully pondered why he could be in such a position with his back straight, and why it felt oddly more comfortable than standing on his feet.<p>

"What was that noise?"

That voice! He reconized it! Ezio! Panic begun to settle in as he realized that he'd probably get into trouble by trying to study his keys. In his fear, he hadn't realized how much larger the world seemed, or that he was running forward on all fours as he hurried to escape the scene.

That's when he hit a road block, the door. He glared at it as he tried to bat at the knob to try and open it. With each footstep, he knew Ezio was getting closer, even closer to dealing punishment for not listening to him, until he found himself being lifted up by the skin on his neck, which didn't hurt as much as it should.

"How did a cat get in here?"


	2. Chapter 2

"How did a cat get in here?"

Yusuf was sure his eyes widened when he heard that, he could feel them expand in shock. A cat? He wasn't a cat! He was a man! Or was he? Somehow the fact that his ears had pinned back to his head, and a tail he didn't recall ever having curled in between his legs didn't support his mental claims.

Ezio then reached for a strip of teal fabric that hung from his head, his headband! The old man pondered this curiously as he continued to study him, "And what's Yusuf doing without his headband?"

To that, he snapped, "_Ezio! I am Yusuf! Put me down_!" but instead of words, it came as a mix of hisses and mrrows. He then came to a last resort, and twisted around to claw at Ezio's hand that still held his scruff, and sunk his teeth into his wrist. At least he took the time to mentally appologize.

That did the trick, Yusuf was dropped as Ezio grabbed his hand and stared at cat turned Assassin. Midair, Yusuf righted himself and landed with a thud on his feet, now he could get used to that, but he knew well that he couldn't stay like this.

He then ran between Ezio's legs and to the bomb area. Behind him, the older was chasing. He climbed up on the table then jumped from the side, sinking his claws into the wall when he was close enough. Unfortunately, he lost his height and was easily plucked from the wood.

Ezio was more careful this time, and secured Yusuf's paws with one hand while his other wrapped around his midsection. No matter how much he twisted and turned, he couldn't reach Ezio's hands or arms with anything but his hindpaws. But those were very ineffective in this situation. He was carried and placed back on Ezio's desk, where on the floor he saw his discarded clothes had stayed the same size. That made him suddenly feel a lot more uncomfortable, seeing as he was NAKED. When Ezio saw the same thing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'd better not find him running around Constantinople nude..."

"_I'm not! I'm right here_!" Yusuf shouted, but once again, it came out as a hiss.

Then Ezio's foot almost stepped on the key, but he saw this before he actually placed his boot on it. He picked it up and looked from the disk, to Yusuf's clothes, to feline Yusuf. It was clear that he was putting the pieces together. Then his look was one of aggitation. "Yusuf... what have you done?"

The cat looked down at his paws innocently. He didn't really DO anything, it was the disk that did. Not at all could he explain what he did, or how, but it was the disk's fault! Oh how he'd love to tell Ezio why it couldn't have been his doing that turned him into a cat.

While Yusuf had been brooding, Ezio took the moment to collect his friend's robes from the floor and fold them up before placing them back down on the desk. Then another thought had come to his mind, as Yusuf could tell by the breif flash of something on his face. Next thing he knew, the old man was messing with his headband, pulling it down over his head and securing it around his neck. In his defence for personal space, he yelped and tried to pull himself away, but Ezio let him go when he was done. Now Yusuf's headband hung around his neck like an odd sort of collar. He sat and looked down in a sort of pouting way.

"Don't start complaining about it," Ezio told him. "It's probably better that I can find you again anyways."

No matter what curse or statement he could throw to defend himself, he knew it would be in vain. Only he seemed to know what he was saying. Instead he glared and shook his messy fur in an attempt to fix it after Ezio's handling rubbed it the wrong way. After another moment, he jumped off the table and padded around, noting how the world was so much larger than what it used to be. Correction, how much small HE was then what he used to be...

It was another few minutes before he finally decided to forgive Ezio for his handling, seeing as he himself would probably do the same thing, and returned to the man's desk, where he sat staring at the disk Yusuf had touched with a pondering expression. Yusuf lept back up and laid down hear his folded robes, resting his head on his paws as he stared at the glowing key with distaste.

It took Ezio an extra moment before he realized that Yusuf was trying to mend their friendship after the breif squabble, but he didn't bother to treat his friend like a cat and scratch his head or something. He was almost certain he would take his hand back with a few extra scratches.

"_Mi dispiace, amico mio_. It's just that last time I had to handle a cat, my sister and I had been chasing it around a bruffle." Yusuf glanced at Ezio oddly when he said this. _What were you ever doing in a bruffle, old man_? _And with your SISTER_?

"But, I do think we should be causious with this," Ezio continued. "The recruits are bond to ask where you are, or why a cat is in the headquarters. We'll have to think of something to tell them, no?"

That's when an idea came to him. Yusuf jumped to his paws and picked up the quill in his teeth. While Ezio knitted his eyebrows at the odd sight, Yusuf proceeded to dip the tip of the quill in the ink before sloppily writing his reply in Turkish. _"Tell them I've gone to take care of some business with the Egyptian Assassins. And that I won't be back for a couple of months. That will buy us some time."_

Ezio read this, having slight trouble due to his lacking in what he sometimes liked to refer to as Turk-speak (in his mind anyways), but nodded when he got the message. "Alright. And about a cat in the headquarters?"

_"I don't know, make something up."_ Yusuf wrote.

"I could always break one of your paws and say I wanted to take care of you until you're better." Ezio joked. Though it wasn't well recieved, Yusuf pricked him with a claw. "Ow!"

Yusuf sat smuggly, almost appearing like a Chesire if he could smile.

Ezio held his bleeding knuckle between his teeth for a second before he flicked Yusuf's ear. "You obviously have no sense of humor, do you?"

Now normally the ear flicking would have set off a normal cat, but then again, Yusuf wasn't a normal cat. He simply pricked Ezio's finger again with his claw.

"Okay, fine! I get it!" He said once again putting the freshly bleeding finger in his mouth. It seemed sort of childish, as a kid who gave himself a papercut might lick the cut to rid of the blood. It only succeeded in making Yusuf hold his head a little higher with a look of clear confindence. Even if he were far less than half of Ezio's size, he still knew how to win.

The moment was swiftly ended when footsteps became audible. In his haste, Ezio was about to hide Yusuf when one of his recruits entered the library.

The newcomer in question was one of Ezio's much more older recruits, a black haired, Turkish woman by the name of Elif. Her tall and slender frame leaned against the door frame as she stared puzzled at the cat in Ezio's arms. "_A__federsiniz_, mentor. I did not mean to intrude."

"No, it's fine," Ezio answered.

Elif nodded. "_Evet_, if you say so. I was wondering if you have seen Yusuf around."

He quickly glanced down at his feline friend before meeting her eyes. Though he was forcing himself to not show any signs of lying in his nervousness, he managed to shake his head. "No. He had left to deal with some business between the Egyptain Assassins. And from what he had told me, he might not be back for a couple of months."

"Okay. Thanks." She nodded, though there was a hint of doubting that she was clearly trying to make. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but why do you have a cat?"

"Um... hehe..." He tilted his head down and glared at Yusuf through the corner of his hood for the lack of help he had given him on this part. After going through every excuse in the book, he sighed and answered, "I found this cat on my way to a blacksmith, and it won't leave me alone since."

"I also have one more question, Mentor." Elif continued.

Ezio pressed his lips together and nodded for her to go on.

"Whose robes are on your desk?"

The question in itself made him go paler than usual. Even Yusuf stood stiff before bringing himself into a tight ball to hide his headband. Now Ezio would have LOVED to have that crazy old man excuse so he could snap wildly "I HAVE THESE ROBES CAUSE I FELT LIKE IT! NOW QUIT ASKING ME QUESTIONS, WOMAN!" but that would raise too much suspition and he isn't exactly the definition of "crazy". So he decided to think quickly and hit her over the head with his bracer.

**Yup, this chapter is random and full of foolishness. Don't worry, Elif isn't dead. I don't think she is, anyways. But at least no one knows the truth yet... I think... I'll get into a discription of what Yusuf looks like next chapter, because I was too lazy to make him find a mirror.**


	3. Chapter 3

Yusuf stared with eyes the size of moons when Ezio beamed his own recruit over the head. He then hissed, fur bristling along his spine as he glared at him. When the older came to realize what he himself just did, he put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples to sooth an oncoming headache.

"What else was I suppose to do?" He asked. "She knew too much."

The feline jumped from the desk and padded towards Elif, brushing up against her before prodding at her head where she had been beamed. A large bump was there. With another long stare, Ezio got the message, picked her up and carried her up to her room. After that, he grabbed Yusuf's robes and hid them in the best hiding place ever. Under his bed.

Though it seemed like a stupid idea, no one would even think that Ezio would leave something he wanted to keep secret in plain sight. It was perfect. He let go of the bed skirt and sat down on the edge of his bed, thinking about what he had done to his recruit. It had been purely out of haste and panic, but he regreted it.

"I should have hid your robes..." Ezio murmered to himself, staring at his boots. Yusuf flicked an ear before continuing to walk around the room. He set his paws carefully over the rugs that cluttered the floor before he came to the mirror, curious as to what he appeared to be now. Somehow he had imagined that he'd look pretty much the same except with cat ears and a tail, but he was shocked to find more than that.

He certainly was no shorthair, his fur came in feathery tuffs and clumps and bunches, in need of some maintainence, but still appearing rather soft and silk like. His eyes were still the same blue-gray, only now they were large and almond shaped. In proportion to the rest of his body, his head was slightly massive. His body appeared quite suited for jumps and leaps, seeing as his legs were long and strong enough. His tail was a long feather duster like mass that continued the tortieshell smoke pattern that expanded across his pelt. Black, gray, and russet over white made for an elaborant patchwork. Now in short, he was simply a smoke tortieshell turkish angora.

_I look so... strange. Is this what it's like to be a cat?_

The door opened again when another recruit entered. A newer one whom he was named Yerman. He seemed like he was about to ask Ezio something, when he caught sight of Yusuf and panicked.

"Mentor, what's a cat doing in here?"

"It followed me." Ezio lied, a little more smoothly this time.

Yerman nodded and stared long and hard at Yusuf before he made up his mind. As quickly as he could, he picked Yusuf up by the scruff, resulting in some spitting and hisses due to the uncomfortable position, before opening the window. Ezio then ran up to stop him, only too late.

The recruit threw Yusuf out and closed the window to avoid any form of entry before turning to Ezio smiling, "Taken care of."

Ezio twitched, his thoughts on the fact that they were on the third floor, and he just DROPPED YUSUF out of a WINDOW. After five seconds of shock, he ran downstairs and threw the door open to begin his search for his friend. Leaving a very confused recruit to just blink and shrug. Thinking it's an Italian thing.

* * *

><p>Yusuf fell for two floors, trying to right himself in his decent. If he could do it once, he could do it again, right? Well he did manage to land on his paws on a sea blue awning before stumbling and continuing his decent. With a few scratches, and the heavy scent of blood and flowers, he assumed he landed in a bush.<p>

He crawled out disoriented, fighting for balance as his all too large world continued to spin around him. His legs gave in and he fell down with a thump, tail gently whisking against the cobblestone in his unconscious state.

It was nightfall when he woke up. The sky like black velvet laced with twinkling stars. The buildings were still moving, it felt like the ground was as well. Though he at first passed it as still being dizzy, he quickly realized that something was dragging him.

He pulled his head up a little to see the face of the other who was dragging him, another cat. A black Persian with glittering gold eyes, and a smushed in face. His teeth carefully bit into his scruff, just so he would not hurt him. Exhaustion then overtook him again, and he let his head tuck back and his mind slip into the calm of sleep.

* * *

><p>Everything around him seemed to pulse painfully, like claps of thunder close enough to feel the sound vibrate your skin. He sort of groaned, only it came out more as a painfilled purr. He could smell others and blood amongst other things. When he dared to crack an eye open, he saw himself laying on a rug in a sort of deserted room that was only accessable through a small hole near the ceiling that was letting light stream in, causing dust to glimmer in the beam.<p>

He pushed up with his front paws and shook himself to better fix his matted up fur and loosen the stiffness in his body.

"Hükümdar, are you sure we can trust this one?" A voice spoke, it sounded different than what a person would, there was mrrows and rumbles between words, almost like listening to a cat and knowing what it was saying. "Loners are loners."

"No. No. I'm sure we can, I saw this one fall from the sky and everything." Another argued.

"Are you sure? You've told me this before. And this time you might have endangered us all by bringing this one here." The first retorted.

"Trust me, I know this one won't do us harm."

"And you left our best healer with him?"

"Yes."

"For your sake, I hope you are right."

A tail lightly brushed against his shoulder, and he stepped around to find himself staring at a frosty white she-cat with bicolored green and amber eyes, now aside from those small differences, she appeared very much like he did. And was, most likely, the same breed of cat. He took a long moment to look her over with suspition. In her mouth, she was holding leaves, and her paw was covered thickly with cobwebs.

She put the leaves down at her feet and prodded him down with her clean paw until he laid on his stomach once more. "Please, try not to move until I treat these scratches."

So this was the healer, Yusuf vagely wondered. He watched as she chewed the leaves up to a fine pulp and started to spit the juices into his scratches, though it stung, he hardly flinched. Why were they bothering, he wanted to ask. Are they going to keep him here?

"I hear from Hükümdar that you fell from the sky into a bush. Is this true?" She questioned, lightly pressing the cobwebs into the cuts.

Where had he come from? He did vagely remember falling, the smell of blood, and fear. And... hands? He wasn't exactly sure. So, seeing as this was his best answer, he nodded.

"He thinks you can help us. We have been finding our friends brutally slaughtered, mauled." She explained. "But we cannot do this alone. He still believes in some old cat's tale that the one who falls from the heavens shall save us. I do not think such superstition is true."

"You don't?"

"No. That elder has been on borrowed time for moons now, he's lost his mind and wasn't the cat he once was." She told him. "It's sad to see one go from glory to retirement so easily..."

"I know, it can be rather shocking what one can become," He replied. Then a question came to his mind, and left him before he could stop himself. "What is your name?"

"Sevmek," she answered sweetly, pulling her paws away and once again looking him over with a look of satifation. "And you?"

"Yusuf."

She seemed to smile a little, if a cat could smile that is. "Well it is my pleasure to meet you, Yusuf."

It was probably the feline half of his mind fighting him, but he took a liking rather quickly to this she-cat. When he realized his thoughts, he was quick to bash them away and mentally scold himself. He'd turn back into a man, so it was probably for the best he not get attached to her.

"My friend, our master would like to speak with you." The black Persian cat had appeared at a ramp, a paw lifted and head bowed like some sort of gesture of respect. Yusuf simply mimiced it as a sign that he respected their ways, and followed him up, wondering who this new cat might be.

**I know, very little sense still. To make things a little more difficult for everyone in this fic, I'm also going to have cat instincts battling with Yusuf's more human thoughts as he slowly goes insane in this cat body of his.  
>Oh well, at least things might get interesting! :D<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you guys who took the time to put up reviews. And I shall be answering a question I got from an anonymous review.  
>"Did I ever read Warriors?"<br>****As a matter of fact, I did up until some time in the third series because of a multitude of reasons. 1. Squirrelflight got on my nerves, as did Jayfeather's emo whining, Hollyleaf's PERFECTIONISTNESS, and Lionpaw-or-what-ever-the-hell-the-Lionheart-imposter's-name-is's slaughter. 2. All the nonsense about Medicine Cats running off with cats from other clans started to make me twitch. 3. Stormfur didn't come back to the clan... at least I have Graystripe.  
>So I hope that answers your question.<strong>

The Master was a old, short haired cat with black fur, and a graying muzzle. His eyes were a pale green like the bottom of leaves. And he was seated on the floor with his back straight, and a proud stature. It took a moment after noticing the lacking, that he had a small stump for a tail.

"You must be the flying one I have heard so much about." He questioned.

"I suppose I am." Yusuf answered.

"A pleasure," he lifted his paw and bowed his head in that same guesture that the Persian had given him, and once more Yusuf copied the action. "You may call me Hoca, young one."

"I have talked to your healer, Sevmek, that you think I am a part of some sort of legend," he told him. "What is it that is causing you trouble?"

"The answer to the question is as simple to give as chewing grass," Hoca mrrowed, "as of lately we-."

"HOCA! HOCA!"

A thin and small calico cat came scrambling up the ramp with eyes wide and fur bristled. She was trembling heavily in her terror. "Hoca! Another one has been killed!"

The old cat stood up. "Who?"

"Kavgacı, Master."

He nodded and padded behind her, a tilt of his head towards Yusuf and Hükümdar indicated that he wished for both to follow. They came down to the main space, where a large tom laid sprawled out across the dusty floor. His dark gray fur stained dark rust with dried blood from horrifying carnage done to his soft belly and neck. His mouth was open in a snarl, and eyes glassily staring off into nothing. The cat had died fighting.

Hoca bowwed his head and sighed. "Another one of us dies every day. This is why we need your help." He then turned and faced him. "I believe that dogs are behind these relentless murders."

"Dogs," Yusuf repeated. "And I assume you think I can help you take care of them?"

"I hope that you can," Hoca corrected. "You have the choice to leave if you so decide."

Yusuf nodded and thought for a moment, then met his gaze and nodded. "_Evet_, I will help you."

* * *

><p><span>MEANWHILE!<span>

Ezio put his face in his hands in frustration as he sat down on a bench. He had checked EVERYWHERE. The Hagia Sofia, the Palace, the docks, all of the Galata districts, the dens, the rooftops, and everything inbetween. Yusuf was no where to be found!

Now it wasn't likely he just vanished, right? He couldn't have just gotten lost. This was Yusuf we're talking about.

"Damn..." The old assassin breathed, narrowing his eyes at the cobblestone. What should he do? He wasn't sure. If he kept looking, it might arouse suspition from his recruits, but if he didn't would Yusuf come back? What if he was in trouble? He doubted that the man, or cat anyways, would be very much able to defend himself.

* * *

><p><span>BACK TO YUSUF!<span>

"And we're moving out."

"Wait!"

Yusuf turned around to find Sevmek trotting towards him. She quickly came to his side and bumped it with her nose, pressing some cobwebs back into the cut. As she twitched her pale pink nose, she looked down shyly.

"You were starting to bleed again." She explained.

He nodded, "Thank you," and looked over his shoulder as a group of sixteen cats converged at the entrance. He twitched a whisker before he left the healer to join them, once again ignoring the arguing half of his mind that competed for dominence. So long as he kept his nerve, and retained his wit, he would not break, right?

Hoca met him at the entrance of the basement, appearing rather conserned. "Yusuf, are you sure you are up to this?"

"I do believe I'm the one who fell from the sky," He responded with underlying sarcasim. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"You do appear rather thin, have you not eaten a morsel since you arrived?" He questioned like a lecturing parent would to their child.

"I didn't know that I was invited to take as I pleased." He stated, whisking past him.

But Hoca didn't allow for the conversation to end there, he stepped in front of him again. "Do not be so coy with me. Now, seeing as you could use something in your belly before this fight, maybe you could come hunting with me."

"Hunting?"

"I hope I do not need to explain." Hoca sighed.

"No, no. I know what hunting is," Yusuf assured. "I just didn't think I'd be asked to join anyone in it."

"You don't seem to expect anything, do you?" The older retorted.

"It's probably better that way."

"I am inclinded not to agree." He replied before stepping outside. "Come."

With that, Yusuf followed him out and around the streets, little was said, only the small patter of their paws against the cobblestone seemed to lazily float to his ears. He hadn't realized though until now how much more he seemed to smell with his mouth open; the light scents of bread and flowers wafted to his pallet and something else. It was clear that's what the older cat was homing in on. And, with a flick of his ear and a soft prod to his paw, the old cat signaled for Yusuf to stop.

"Stay quiet, I'll show you how it's done." Hoca whispered as he got down to a crouch, and slowly crawled forward. It took a moment to follow his sharp, unwavering gaze to an unsuspecting rat nawing on the wood of a stand. With a burst of speed, Hoca sprang when he was within distant, and quickly dispatched the verman with a hard blow of his extended claws and a bite to the neck.

He padded back with the rat in his mouth, a proud sort of look on his face- seeing as the damn thing was half his size- and dropped it down between them.

When Yusuf only stared at it, he asked, "Aren't you going to have any?"

"Wha', no." Yusuf quickly refused, unwilling to try and stomach a rodent. "I... well... you caught it, maybe I should go and find my own meal..."

"Nonsense," Hoca laughed, whiskers twitching. "I don't mind sharing, and I probably won't be able to finish this fat thing by myself anyways."

"Really, you don't have to let me have any," He continued to semi-calmly argue. "I'm not hungry."

"You're joking, you humble kit." The old tom stated with a little more serious humor than before. "I can even hear your belly. Best you have some of this kill before it gets cold."

"But I'm fine."

"No, just have a little bit."

With the rat pushed right up to Yusuf's paws, the pudgent odor seeped up, and he clamped his mouth shut. But still, it leaked into his nose. It wasn't what he thought it would be like, he thought he would vomit if he so much as smelled the thing, but instead it only brought saliva to his mouth and his stomach to growl in protest to his stubbornness. But he didn't cave into it, he didn't let it get the better of him.

And so, finally giving up on the cause, Hoca sighed disapprovingly and laid down to tear open the skin and eat the blood soaked tendons and meat inside like they were some sort of delicasy in a fine wrapping. As more of that smell continued to fill his nose, it only made him feel worse until he couldn't take it anymore.

To escape the scent of rat, he turned and ran in the first direction he could think of. He jumped up the boxes in quick resession, then onto the wooden beams that were nailed into the buildings until he was up on the rooftops. There, he collapsed on the tiles and curled in on himself as the torturous groans of his empty stomach lulled him to sleep.

**Wait a second, when did this get angsty? I have no idea. But a word of the wise. If you're starving, and stuck in a cat's body, and you have the option to eat a rat and walking away, JUST. EAT. THE. FRICKING. RAT.**


	5. Chapter 5

Pain was what greeted him when the fuzzy edges of consciousness begun to seep in. And slowly, Yusuf opened his eyes and forced himself up to his paws. His stomach gnawled and sent harsh peircing hunger pains every so often, it was difficult to keep his mind focused.

To him, there were two options, he could forget about the cats who dragged him out of the bushes, and look for Ezio despite telling them that he would help. Or he could hope Ezio would last without him for X amount of time while he took care of this dog issue of theirs. Neither one of those options told him about how he would get food in his belly; well the first he'd be fed at least. But, just as he was about to turn and head towards the headquarters, the words of Issak floated to his mind,_ "Yusuf, no matter what, when someone needs your help, you must do what you can to assist in the situation."_ And with them, he cursed to himself as he padded towards the edge of the roof and looked down.

It did look like a bad drop, now it would have been made easier if he could grab handholds and climb down. But a verticle slope would pose as impossible in his physical state. So he jumped down to the wooden beam that had been in his path up. When he landed, he dug in his claws out of slight fear of slipping. Then he looked to the next beam, just a yard away, it wouldn't be so challanging. He unhooked his front paws from the wood and launched himself at the next beam, and gripped with his back paws hanging off. He clawed his way on until he was standing on the narrow beam. This process continued until he reached the stack of crates, and more easily reached the ground.

Releif to be on the ground never felt so short lived.

"Hey there little kitty-cat."

He turned around and found himself facing glittering gold eyes and huge sharp teeth, and hot, reaking breath clung to his fur. Slowly, he padded backwards from this huge creature, quickly figuring out that it was a large dog. Fear made him take on a defencive stand, lowering to a pounce ready position and the fur all along his spine standing up on end. He hissed at them in a failed attempt to scare them off.

"Aw, is de wittle putty-cat afwaid?" Another teased, his glossy black fur shining in the morning light and eyes equally hungry.

"Iz thinkz you zcared himz bozz!" A different dog added with what seemed to be the canine version of a chuckle.

"Shut up," The main one barked, ears pinned back a moment before he turned back to Yusuf. "Looks like we just found breakfast."

"Hiz a zkinny thingz! Probably leanz." The third pointed out.

"Dis is gonna be yummy!" The second said hopefully.

"Youz zo immature..."

"I thought I told you two to shut up!" The first growled without looking away from the still fear stricken Yusuf. "Now where were we?"

"You were going to let me go?" Yusuf tried to joke, but found his throat dry and voice scarce. He'd turn into that tom cat he saw upon his arrival.

With that, the first bit down on him, sharp teeth puncturing his skin as he thrashed him about. Then he threw Yusuf to the wall with a sickening thud. Blood stained where he hit and where he laid as he looked up with wide eyes as the dog started at him again. WIth agony clouding his mind, he swiped at the dog's muzzle and clawed at his face, soon reaching a more sensitive spot.

"AGH! MY EYES!"

Breathing heavily, Yusuf climbed over the blinded pack leader and ran as his body trembled with exersion. He was leaving a trail of blood where he went, and it worried him for obvious reasons. What if he lost too much blood? What if something important was damaged? As an after thought, he hid away in a cart of hay as he whimpered and purred in pain...

* * *

><p>He came to to hissing and barking, and with sharp cutting pain hidnering his movements, he stood and looked out of the safety of the haybale.<p>

There he saw Hükümdar and a few others battling the dogs, a dead cat thrown up on the wall,the pack leader sniffing the ground. He was looking for him, the cat who blinded him. The thought brought Yusuf's fur to bristle at the thought of those sharp teeth cutting through his flesh again.

A younger cat, one who didn't appear much older than a year, leapt down and clawed one of the dogs across the neck, and then through his eyes, he jumped and did the same to the other one. Both of the dogs howled and whined with pain as they shook and tore about looking for the scent of cat, and were clearly overwhelmed by the other cat scents around them.

An idea came to Yusuf, and he jumped out of the hay, and right away, the pack leader detected him.

"THERE! THAT'S THE LITTLE FLEABAG! GET HIM!"

He hissed before running towards the docks, and then came to a skittering hault at the edge. Now came the difficult part. Behind him were the three dogs thundering down the wooden walk after him, and he stood there ready to defend himself. Then just as they were blindly about to leap at him, he lept out of the way and onto a gondela. Before the three had a chance to correct themselves, they slide off the edge and into the water, whining and yelping as they squirmed and kicked in search of land.

Yusuf merely chuckled at this. "Funny, I thought dogs could swim."

"WHERE ARE YOU, STUPID CAT!" The leader barked as he paddled around in circles in search of something to stand on.

"I'm on the docks." Yusuf lied. "You can follow my voice if you wish."

And that's exactly what the dogs did, they went after Yusuf's taunting voice and pawed at the side of the boat in attempts to get on. Once the pack leader managed a hold on the edge, the whole boat capsized, and Yusuf was taken down with it. Salt water stung his eyes as he kicked up towards the retreating surface. Then a hand grabbed at his scruff, pulling him roughly out of the water.

The cats behind him stared wide eyed in the shadows at Yusuf and the person holding him.

Now any person could see that he was in bad shape, his skin clung to his bones and some very lean muscle, chunks of fur were pulled out, and there were still all the wounds from the dog's teeth. It even hurt to be held by the scruff, as this woman was doing.

It only took a moment though until he reconized the robes to be that of one of his recruits. Elif maybe? He wasn't so sure seeing as he could hardly keep his eyes open. A moment later, he was cradled up in the recruit's arm, the small cape removed and wrapped around him to provide some warmth. The soft reassurence and the slight bob of footsteps soothed him until he let his eyes fall closed with total exhaustion.

* * *

><p>Back at the headquarters, Ezio held his head in his hands as he stared at the glowing key that turned his friend into a cat. How would he ever change him back? Would he ever be able to change him back? He didn't know the answers.<p>

Then there was quiet footsteps, he looked up to see one of his younger recruits, Annette, with something wrapped up in her cape, which she had taken off.

"Mentor, I heard you shouting at Yerman the other day." She told him quietly.

"Yes, I know. I think he probably told everyone by now..." Ezio sighed tiredly. He was getting too old for this.

She stepped forward. "You said it had something to do with him throwing a cat out the window?"

"Where are you going with this?" He stared at his recruit uncertainly. Had she figured out that Yusuf was the cat?

Annette shifted foot to foot as a smile crept to her face. "I think I found your missing cat."

That brought shock to Ezio's expression. How could a recruit find Yusuf when he clearly couldn't? He stood up and she placed Yusuf's limp form down on the table before pulling off the cape she had wrapped in him, letting the pink fabric fall off to reveal the sickly thin, badly beaten form laying within. Ezio's thoughts were wrapping like wasps attacking the source of their broken nest. Only two questions stuck to his mind. What happened to his friend? And will he recover?


	6. Chapter 6

Pacing outside his own room, Ezio paced the hall as his thoughts stormed and raged through his mind. His friend was found unconscious and torn up, and without a cause of the issue, it was hard to deduce how to help his feline-turned-friend. It was soon his impatience got the better of him, and he punched a wall with frustration. What could he possibly do?

That was when Annete stepped out of the room and looked up hopefully, that look alone brought soon relief to him. Maybe his friend would be okay after all.

"How is he?" Ezio asked, unsure wheither he should tell her the truth.

"The cat, I cleaned and stitched up the wounds as best I could," She answered. "The pour little thing's weak, but there's a chance that he can recover. Maybe." Then she sighed and whipped her hands on her robes. "Mentor, I have a question for you, why do you care so much about this one cat?"

Okay, now if Ezio were going to tell her, now would be the time, right? It was only the best moment he could think of. He took a breath and walked into his room, gesturing for her to follow. Yusuf was asleep on a pillow, twitching every now and again as somewhat active dreams seemed to bring some small movement from him. Ezio sat on the edge of his bed and gestured for Annette to do the same.

"Now what I tell you might be difficult to believe," he said causiously, waiting for the nod that he was given in responce, "but Yusuf isn't with the Egyptian Assassins, and he had not even left."

"What do you mean?" She lowered an eyebrow, staring at him. "Is he dead?"

"No, he more or less... changed..." Ezio told her, unable to find the words to opening admit the truth. "But he is with us, he is still alive. Hurt but alive."

That said, the conclusion slowly begun to settle in on the recruit, her mouth begun to drop before she stood up. "But that's-! That's impossible! That cat couldn't be- you must be mistaken! I don't believe this!"

"Please, Annette," he said assuringly. "I did not believe it when I first found out either, but... that cat, Yusuf made a mistake in not listening to my warning, he did not stay away from the keys like I had asked. They changed him physically, and possibly mentally as well, this I am not yet sure."

"Do you have any sort of proof?" She asked as she swallowed hard.

"You know how Elif was found passed out the other day?" Ezio brought up. "It wasn't a guard in a fight. I hit her over the head with my own bracer simply to avoid her from finding out the truth of what happened to Yusuf. It was ilrational, pourly thought out, and I still have yet to apologize."

"She really does think a guard knocked her out, Mentor." Annette stated. "Maybe it's better that way."

"Who knows, but it would be better to know the truth sooner, than for me to hoard this secret for too long and allow it to fester like an infected wound left alone." Ezio explained. "It's best to tend to it now, straighten it all out, and work to fix him."

"Are you still going to be looking for keys? Or even doing anything envolving the Ottomans or Byzantines?"

"Not until Yusuf is returned to his semi-normal state." He answered. "But I felt that I needed one person besides me who knew the real story behind Yusuf's sudden disappearence, or why I care so much for this 'cat's' safety."

Little did Ezio or Annette know that outside the door, Yerman had overheard Ezio's last couple of sentences. He stood outside for another moment trying to figure out what he meant, or why tell Annette for that matter. One thing was certain, he would find out one way or another.

* * *

><p><span>MEANWHILE!<span>

The door flew open with a brush of air as Mirela entered the Templar headquarters dressed in an assassin's clothes and a bundle held to her chest. A smile had crossed her features breifly as she came to Manuel, who sat in his office, staring at a parchment. To gain his attention, she knocked on the door a couple of times.

The old man looked up and raised an eyebrow at her in questioning. "Mirela? Why are you wearing assassin robes?"

"Vali 'borrowed' some to sabotage the South Assassin Den," she explained. "And he dragged me along."

"Well, what did you do?"

Again that sinister smirk came to her lips. "We planted a bomb."

This brought some more interest to the subject. "A bomb? And how will this help us?"

"It's a coal bomb that we hid inside a pie," Mirela told him. "It will explode and they will have to clean up the mess. While they are busy with that, we'll have the opprotunity to attack the North Den and take it for ourselves."

"What kind of pie did you hide this bomb in?"

"Cherry."

"Oh no, that's horrible." Manuel gasped. "Such a waste of pie."

"A good waste."

A long few moments of silence passed through the two before Mirela ajusted her hold on the bundle she held to her chest. To this, her superior stared at her curiously. "What is that thing you're holding?"

She put the bundle down on the desk, and let the fabric fall to reveil a limp cat. A semi long furred creature with a patchwork of black, tan, and white. It's pelt though was coated with dried blood in some spots, obscurring some of the details of it's fur. And around it's neck was what seemed to be two long strips of fabric- a teal one wrapped around orange and gold- used to fashion a sort of collar. The teal piece had a part that extended down from the rest, reaching down to around it's chest.

"A cat. I found it at the docks." She explained.

Manuel hummed, a hand stroking his white beard. "Why not you see what you can do to patch it up, it could stay with us."

"Really?" She asked excitely.

"What's the harm?" He answered.

Happily, the trickster collected the cat in her arms and left to heal the wounds and change out of the assassin robes. Leaving Manuel to continue his reading a letter from Prince Ahmet. She walked over to her room, she had to share with Oksana and Lysistrata, so it wasn't like she would get any sort of privacy. When she walked in, the actress narrowed her eyes.

"Looks like we're going to need to find another agent." She snorted at the sight of the robes that Mirela still wore.

Putting the cat down, she crossed her arms, "It's not my fault! Vali dragged me along to sabotage a den, I had to wear these."

"Well change out of those rags soon, their quite the eyesore." Oksana retorted.

"Fine, I don't care." With that, she tugged off the belt and armor and threw them down on the ground, soon she was back in her Romani clothes. Then she turned back to the still sleeping cat, and begun to patch the wounds all across it's body, wondering what had happened to it when she fished the pour thing out of the water.

**Ain't this just the plot twist? THIS IS WHAT LISTENING TO BECK DOES TO MEH!  
>SOOOOOOY UN PENIDOR! I'M A LOSER BABY! SO WHY DON'T YOU KILL ME?<br>Yusuf: *facepalm*  
>Ezio: *facebook*<br>Annette: *facewall*  
>Yerman: *facefloor*<br>Elif: *facebracer*  
><strong>**Malik: Novice...**


	7. Chapter 7

Pain. Hunger. And unfamiliar surroundings. PANIC!

He scrapped his way to his feet as wave after wave of dizziness pelted him, disbalancing him as he scrabbled across the floor, he didn't know where he was. He couldn't recall anything of this place. All he knew was it wasn't home, so it wasn't safe. Nowhere was safe...

Hands suddenly picked him up, and he hissed and squirmed to escape, but it was too late. He was laid down on the lap of some man with a white beard and a rediculous hat and clothes. So what does he do? Claw at the leg desperately to get out. Unfortunately the fabric was too thick, and he couldn't scratch skin.

And when he felt the man scratching him behind the ear? He hated it! The feeling of that fat finger ruffling the fur behind his ear was more a nussence than anything. Then the hand came to the the fabric around his neck, ready to take it off, he twisted around and bit his finger. No one. touches. the fabric.

_Where am I? Where's Ezio?_

A sudden spark errupted in his mind. The feline instincts he had worked so hard to keep under control were beginning to take over, and with that, Yusuf forced them down deep where it would be so difficult to access them. He could vaguely reconize these faces as targets that the den leaders were going after, not other assassins at all. The man who prosistantly kept him on his lap was Manuel; this only renewed his struggles for freedom.

"What is this around your neck anyways?" He heard Manuel ponder aloud, but when he tried to reach for his headband again, Yusuf turned and bit his hand, not letting go until he tasted blood seep over his tongue. When he bit at Ezio, he at least curled his lip over his teeth so he would not hurt his friend, but this wasn't his friend. This was some old man that was hoping to start his empire back up. Manuel's hand pulled away as he sighed. "I guess I'd better not try that again..."

Yusuf glared at him and again tried to pull away. With his efforts in vain, he proceeded to make himself somewhat content through scratching at Manuel's leg. Hell, it all he could do besides hiss when he was touched, but it didn't help to free him of his entrapment.

* * *

><p>It had been two days, and Yerman grew tired of being left in the dark. It was this morning he made his decision, he'd get answers, and now. He didn't care how he got them, just that he was enlightened on this entire situation. So his first step should have been clear as day right?<p>

Confront Annette.

Now the woman wasn't that difficult to spot, she was standing in the library, staring at the spines of books as she was about to choose one to read. It was not hard to approach her without notice.

Loudly, he slapped his hand by her head, hitting dusty books. The sudden noise alerted her, and she spun around to face his dead serious expression. She suddenly felt smaller, the already existing height difference seemed to grow, as if she were shrinking under his gaze.

Hazel eyes wide, she squeaked, "Y-Yerman! Can I help you?"

No sign of any other emotions seemed to flicker across his face. "_Evet_, you can. I overheard you and the Mentor speaking the other day, and I think you can put some of the questions I have to rest."

Her skin paled, how much did he even hear? She wasn't sure.

"I want the truth, Annette, where is Yusuf, and what does that cat you found have anything to do with it?"

She bit her lips and looked elsewhere, her feet, the doorway, anywhere else but his piercing gaze. Not that Yerman was usually classifiable as "intimidating", but Annette could easily fall under the catigory of recruits who need to improve on "not being intimidated" skills. She could also be known as a "pushover", "easily confused", and, in a sense, "spineless". Though she was so enclosed with self-pity because of it, it was Ezio and a couple of older Assassins who kept her believing that she still had a chance to better herself.

"Tell me!" Yerman demanded. Okay, so maybe he could be put under "intimidating"- if you were a recruit like Annette-, but he had anger issues he had yet to work on as well. The last thing anyone wanted was to get on bad side of them.

"Okay," She never heard her voice go so high. "Yusuf, he's-"

"Still with us."

Yerman spun around to find Ezio RIGHT BEHIND HIM. Funny how the old man could always manage to remain so silent and catch anyone off guard. Annette felt weak with relief as she scurried behind the Mentor and prayed that the older recruit had enough sense not to push Ezio aside and continue his interrogation.

Quickly, Yerman composed himself, crossing his arms and staring up at him; seeing as Ezio still had him beat by an inch or two. "Is that so? Well, where is he then?"

Ezio sighed and straightened a little bit. "Yusuf had not listened to my warning when I told him to stay away from the keys on my desk. He went and tried to study one five nights ago, and it chanced him... into a cat." He paused another moment before adding, "That same cat you threw out the window."

Yerman paled, throat dry as he painfully swallowed. He wasn't aware that he was trembling.

"But, I'm very much certain that Annette has found Yusuf again," Ezio continued. "She told me that he was found in the Galata District. But he had been so badly wounded for reasons that are unknown to me. Now, I have done some investigation with the key that turned him into a cat, and I'm very much sure that I know the way to chance him back."

"Then we should!" Yerman exclaimed. "The sooner the better!"

Ezio nodded and Annette left to retrieve the cat. She returned as the feline squirmed, kicked and hissed in protest to being handled, and handed Yusuf to Ezio.

"_Gazie_, now let's get him back to normal."

He placed the cat down on the desk, took the key Yusuf had used to change himself into a cat in the first place, and set his paw down on the shining disk. With a sharp snap-hiss and a bright light, the two recruits staggered backwards and Ezio fell flat on his back from the force. When they finally chased the spots from their vision, they looked to where the cat had been standing on the table, to where a form laid on the floor.

They all stared with shock as they quickly learned that this was not Yusuf.

* * *

><p>It was maybe an hour or so of petting and begudgent hisses and growls before Yusuf's luck started to change.<p>

Vali walked in and walked straight up to Manuel.

"Pardon me, but can I see the cat?"

The hand pressed down a little harder on Yusuf's back, earning a strangled growl from the feline. "Why?"

"Um, he looks rather skinny," Vali explained. "And I was thinking that maybe he needs to be fed."

Manuel sighed and looked down at Yusuf, who stared up at him with wide "please-let-me-go-I'm-starving" eyes, before letting his hand ease off of his back. In a matter of seconds, Yusuf stood, shook his ruffled fur back in place, and jumped off of Manuel's lap to run, but Vali scooped him up from the floor and held him to his shoulder. The hold though was a lot less uncomfortable as most of the others he had been in, he did not protest to it.

"Thank you."

"I want that cat back when you're done." Manuel told him strickly. Almost like a parent to their child when the kid was borrowing something. Vali nodded and walked away, the position allowed Yusuf to see the annoyance on the old man's face as he crossed his arms.

Through a few doors, Vali then placed Yusuf down on a table. They were in what anyone could guess was a kitchen. Yusuf was on the dining room table, and Vali was searching around for something to give him. Yusuf's attention was diverted to a small, yellow bird perched on the open windowsill, so cluelessly... His stomach growled at him as the scent drifted to his nose. And with some small preperation, he jumped from the table to the counter, then up to the windowsill, where he leapt to catch the now airborn bird.

His claws caught on the wings, ripping out much need feathers as he fell down to the tiled roof below. Wings damaged, the bird came falling down, and hit the roof with a soft thump, but it still tried to move. Yusuf ran over quickly and finished it off with a bite to the neck.

Dizzy with releif and exersion, he held the bird in his mouth as he was about to lay down and feast on his catch. But Vali had climbed out the window and walked over to him, picking him up in his arms. As an after thought, he picked up the dead bird, much to Yusuf's unvoiced thanks.

"Hmm... that was interesting..." Vali noted as he climbed back into the kitchen through the window. He then put Yusuf back down on the table and put the bird on the counter. "I'll assume you just caught your own lunch."

In responce, Yusuf laid down on the table and watched as the former assassin plucked the feathers from the bird's dead skin. But before he got a chance to cook the thing, the feline stopped him by jumping over to the counter again and reclaiming his kill before leaping off the counter to the floor where he settled under the table and laid his catch down.

Hunger over-ruled his disgusted thoughts as he bit down into the raw songbird, the warm taste of blood washing over his tastebuds as sort of releif came to him with the feeling of actually having food in his belly. He didn't care if Vali decided to sit on the floor and watch, all he seemed to really think about was just the metalic, sort of salty taste the bird's flesh held.

"_Nice job, kit_."

He looked up to see Sevmek and Hoca staring at him in the window. Sevmek was beaming with joy, her bicolored eyes wide. Hoca seemed more at ease, his eyes half open as he stared down at him. Quickly, Yusuf finished the bird and jumped up to the counter so he could talk to the two.

"_Sevmek. Hoca_." He meowed. "_It's good to see you both_."

"_Didn't think you were much a housecat_," Hoca stated, gesturing to the room. "_But the hunt the other day made me think you were_."

Yusuf's fur grew hot for a second before his more human thoughts came back to the meal he just had. A dead, uncooked bird he killed. Suddenly he felt unsteady, but at the same time he felt some sickening form of satifaction with it. The animal instincts at this point were so hard to root out from his usual thoughts.

"_We thought you'd be disabled with catnip for sure_," Sevmek told him. "_These notails have a tendency to do that_."

He nodded. "_Well I'm fine. And what about you guys_?"

"_For the most part, we're fine_." Hoca answered. "_But Hükümdar was killed by a dog... a tragic loss_..."

Behind him, Vali was cleaning up the bird remains and came to the window to throw them outside. When they were disposed of, he then looked to Hoca and Sevmek with a spark of amusement. "I suppose you must be lonely... you're just stuck with Manuel, and he isn't much a listener, I know-"

"_What's that notail saying_?" Sevmek asked, noticing that Yusuf understood.

"So these must be your friends?" Vali guessed, then he smiled with some sort of idea. He then carried Yusuf back to the table, then he grabbed Hoca and Sevmek before they could scurry away. He placed them beside him and said hopefully, "Maybe with more of you around, Manuel won't need to keep one captive all the time."

"_Um... Hoca_?" Yusuf said, voice falling quiet. "_I think you and Sevmek might have just become housecats_."

**Well ain't I a derp? I leave you all off in not just one cliffhanger, BUT TWO! I'm so evil!**


	8. Chapter 8

They all stared with shock as they quickly learned that this was not Yusuf.

Far from it. The cat had changed into a woman with brown, wavy hair, and a slender figure. While Annette and Ezio could only blink with eyes the size of dinner plates, and jaws slack, Yerman quickly replaced his shock with sarcasim.

"Mentor, you said that this cat would be Yusuf," he stated. "I did not imagine that?"

"No..." Ezio answered distantly. "You didn't..."

"So I have one question for you."

"Umm...?"

"WHY THE HELL IS THIS A WOMAN?"

That was enough to snap them both out of shock, and that brought another realization in on top of their forgetting to check the cat to see if it were male. This cat hadn't even been wearing Yusuf's headband. _HOW_ THE F- DO YOU _MISS SOMETHING_ LIKE _THAT_? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ezio had grown so eager, so ready to change his friend back he had not taken the time to confirm that it was him.

"Mentor..." Annette spoke with defeat. "I'm sorry... I should have been more careful..."

That's when Yerman started to laugh.

Ezio glared as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Is something funny about this?"

"Yes!" Yerman managed to say. "I can't believe you guys messed up THIS BAD!" With a punch to the arm, Yerman stopped laughing.

The woman on the floor turned over and rubbed her eyes with her forearm. She then pushed up to a sit before switching her position where she was seated more like a cat would, she stared up at them with confusion. All three were staring at her, but Annette at least broke her gaze long enough to find something to cover the woman. She returned and threw a blanket over her, pulled her up to her feet, and wrapped the blanket around her.

"Okay, there," Annette sighed. "Now will you stop drooling?"

Seeing as the wasn't much to look at now, they turned their stares to her. Although Yerman quickly figured out that he had literally been drooling. Ezio on the other hand hadn't been.

"Actually, I like this mistake." Yerman chuckled. "Mind if I spend some time with that one?"

He received a hand to the back of his head, and as he rubbed the sore spot, Ezio answered. "No, I might be able to get some information on where Yusuf might be. The question is if she understands us."

The woman-turned-cat blinked before attempting to speak, forming uncomprehendable words that seemed more gibberish. So meaningless. Or were the noises she made as nonsense as Ezio first thought? Would she recall the name "Yusuf"? Or would she simply stare at him cluelessly? It was worth a try, right?

So he decided to talk with his hands as much as possible, gesture to as much as he could, and ignore the feeling of treating an adult like a child. "I'm Ezio-" He pointed to himself. "And you are?"

The brunette tilted her head and gave him a confused stare for as long as a minute without even blinking.

He grunted with a facepalm before getting even SIMPLER than he was already speaking, which was basically like speaking to a three year old. He pointed to his chest and repeated his name.

"Ezio."

"Ezzzzioh."

"Ezio."

"Eeeezio."

Time to break it down even more...

"Ez-"

"Eeeezzz-"

"Ez-"

"Eeeeeeeeezzzzzzz-"

Behind him, Yerman and Annette were both on the verge of cracking up at the sight of their Mentor trying to teach HIS NAME to this obviously clueless woman. Sighing heavily, he guided her up into his room, followed by the two recruits, where he could continue without any confused stares by any others who might pop in due to curiousity. As an after thought, he collected the two keys on his desk so he could hide them.

* * *

><p>Yusuf shifted uncomfortably under Manuel's stare, looking down and keeping his ears pressed to his head. Beside him, Hoca only sat with an emotionless stare, and Sevmek continued to fidget with unease. She out of the three was more nervous than the others.<p>

"_What do we do_?" She whispered to Yusuf.

He hardly heard him, he was busy trying to antisipate who to tell to run, or if he himself should. It was all based on who that fat, old man decided on keeping to his lap like some exotic, and rare, pet of some kind. Unfortunately, that feline happened to be him. He tried to jump off the table, but fingers curled around him, keeping him restrained as he was placed down on a thick thigh, and chubby fingers rubbed his fur the wrong way.

"_Go, try and get out of here_," He mrrowed in discomfort.

Sevmek shook her angular head in disagreement. "_No. I'm not going to leave you with_... _that_-" she flicked her gaze up at Manuel for a moment before returning it to Yusuf. "_We'll figure a way out of here together_."

"_Fine_... _have it your way_." Yusuf responded, uninterested in putting up much protest.

With that, Sevmek and Hoca were shooed off the table, and removed from the room entirely. While that was happening, all these Templar agents were filing into the room, taking seats around a big round table- which Manuel was seated at the end of-. Soon he felt the hand let go of him, and he quickly leapt off of Manuel's lap and onto the table, ready to sprint out the door when he heard "Thank you all for coming to this important Byzantine meeting." With that, Yusuf paused in his steps, and came to the conclusion that maybe he could always listen in on this meeting. He settled down and curled his tail over his front paws, listening to the conversations.

"I don't see why we're all here." Oksana stated with lack of amusement.

"Yeah, and what's with that cat on the table?" Odai questioned.

Shahkulu glared through his mask. "I don't like this cat. I don't know why, but I don't like it."

The Champion, Georgios, held a heavy hand on the torturer's shoulder. "But then again, you hate most of us here."

Mirela was staring at Yusuf with a hand on her chin. "I think it's a Turkish Angora."

"THEN IT MUST DIE!"

Yusuf bolted off the table as Shahkulu lundged with his spear at him, thankfully Georgios kept him restrained for the most part. But before the feline assassin could escape, Manuel picked him up and held him back on his lap. With an indignant puff of air, Yusuf pinned his ears back and glared at Manuel for a moment before waiting for the actual meeting to start.

Ignorant towards Yusuf's icy glare, Manuel started the meeting. "I know, it was called so sudden. But the Constantine North Den that the Assassins have taken hold of is a little bit busy with some issues. So now we shall be formulating a plan to attack the South Den."

"What could possibly tie up the Assassins' time where they would be oblivious towards an attack on their den?" Cyril questioned.

Manuel gestured for Mirela and Vali, the former was near by while the latter had taken a chair closer to the other end of the table.

Vali then explained the reason why their enemies were so distracted. "I and Mirela have snuck into the North Den and hid a bomb inside a pie. So, when they even try to cut it open, it will explode and they have a big mess to clean up. I'm sure they'll send more of them to clean this up so they can get it done faster, so this leaves open a week or so. Maybe less."

"You hid the bomb." Oksana repeated.

"Yes," Vali confirmed.

"Inside a pie..." She finished.

"And a very good pie bomb it is." Mirela boosted.

"What flavor?" Damat asked.

Vali gave him a serious look before stating, "Cherry."

Georgios suddenly shot up howling, "WHAT OUTRAGE IS THIS?" But Shahkulu quickly jumped on him, tackling him to the floor with the disbalance. Odai came into the small scuffle in an attempt to help push the two back into their seats, which only worked when he had both of them pinned down to the chairs with a hand on pressure points in their shoulders. The two were still as statues until Odai removed his hand and returned to his seat.

A random Byzantine official raised his hand to speak, and Manuel nodded for him to go on. "Lord Palaiologos, why do have your agents here as well?"

Manuel stared long and hard at him. "They're Templars too, are they not?"

"Well... I- I'm not saying they aren't Templars," the official rambled nervously, looking ready to sweat under all the agents glaring. "But they're not taking this meeting very seriously, and they are only talking..."

Another Byzantine Captain spoke up. "I agree with him. They have done the most talking in this meeting, and a majority of it has been over pointless matters." The first calmed a little.

The other officials begun to murmur amongst themselves, only silenced by Manuel raising a hand.

"I can see that my agents are not acting as professional as they should." He agreed. "But that is no reason to disclude them from this meeting." He folded his hands together, giving Yusuf the opportunity he needed to get away from the old man and hopefully slink away from the meeting- seeing as it was only a bunch of bickering- but yet again stopped when Manuel continued. "Now, let's get to the plans, how do we plan on attacking the Constantine South Den while the Assassins are distracted?"

"We could always go straight out and attack it." A captain suggested.

"Normally that work," Manuel agreed. "But the Assassins have devoloped a cannon strong enough to kill twelve of us in one shot, and they can put it on their barricades. We need another strategy unless we want to be flatlined."

This led to a long silence as all the occupants of the room were considering their plans. Finally another official offered up, "Why not we attack from underground?"

"Care to elaborate?" Manuel asked.

"We get a bunch of soldiers to dig underground to get in from below. We'll easily take over the den from the inside out and flush them out. We found a man's wine cellar last we had control of this den, we could use this a starting point."

"Won't this be a little risky?" Odai questioned. "Like if there's a cave collapse?"

"Not if we don't set off any explosions, I suppose." The official answered.

Manuel nodded. "Very well, we will get a digging team assembled and begin immediantly. Cyril, go and get us some maps of the district. Shahkulu, you will be leading this digging team."

He glared. "Why me?"

"Because, you can keep those men in line," Manuel told him. "And you're most likely to kill any Jannessary that does try to interfere with this opporation."

The torturer nodded just before everyone was dismissed from the meeting. Yusuf continued to sit at the doorway, thinking over the plans he just heard. He needed to get back to the den, and very soon. The question was how.

Soon, before Vali left, he picked up Yusuf and held him at his shoulder while he walked up a flight of stairs. There he placed the cat down, allowing him to see Sevmek and Hoca both laying on a bed, fairly bored. Though the former perked up when she saw him, she trotted over with a cheerful expression on her face. Hoca just stayed where he was, but appeared more at ease now.

It wasn't long before three more men walked in, all of whom Yusuf reconized to be Odai, Shahkulu, and Cyril. He was quick to guess that they all shared a room, much like his recruits did.

"Why must you keep those filthy animals in here?" Shahkulu growled.

Vali stared at him with little more than sly amusement. "Maybe because it makes your skin crawl."

With a glare, Shahkulu seated himself on one of the beds further away from the window and threw a pillow over his still helmet covered head.

Cyril decided to speak up. "You know you're probably be able to sleep better if you are not wearing your helmet."

He earned a middle finger and the retort of, "Aren't you suppose to be getting those maps?" before he left.

While the others were settling down for the night, Yusuf laid down beside Hoca and stared at the floor in front of him. "_I need to get back to my home_."

"_Isn't this you're home_?" Sevmek asked, curling up next to him.

"_No_." Yusuf sighed. "_I was taken here like you both were. And where I do belong, we might not see each other again on speaking terms_."

"_What do you mean_?" She asked.

"_I mean that when I do get home_, _I won't be able to talk with you or Hoca, or any of you_." He explained. "_It's_... _complicated_..."

"_No, I understand what you mean_." Sevmek then turned away. "_You probably are one of those high class housecats_. _And you can't be bothered by little more than rubbish like me or Hoca_."

The words seemed to hold a sharp edge to them like a knife. "_That's not it_. _Not at all_."

"_Then what, Yusuf_?" She hissed. "_Just what would keep you away_?"

He looked down. "_Trust me, Sevmek, the story of how and why I'm here right now and speaking to you is long_, _confusing, and above all unbelievable. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around it, but the fact that this is how I am now is proof enough_..."

"_I'm willing to listen_," She assured.

And so began a long night of telling her the story of how he got here.

**Sorry for the long chapter here. But I couldn't stop typing. I was having too much fun with it. Yup, Ezio and Annette derped on the cat they found, and Yusuf now has more reasons why he needs to figure out a way back to the headquarters, but sooner now. And on top of that, he has Sevmek's easily hurt feelings to be careful of. Oh joy!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Mentor!"

Quickly, Ezio threw a blanket over the cat-woman who sat on his bed as Annette stood in front of the lump in the fabric, and Yerman pretended to act casual. It took a moment, but the door opened to reveal one of the more experienced recruits, Ibrahim. He appeared out of breath from running and he held much of his weight against the doorframe.

"Mentor, the Constantine North Den..." He panted.

"What happened?" Ezio questioned, arching an eyebrow.

The recruit took a breath before announcing, "A bomb exploded in the den."

Annette was quickest to respond. "A bomb? What kind? Is everyone alright?"

"_Evet_, everyone is." Ibrahim assured. "But the bomb had been hidden inside a pie, it's a big mess."

"A pie?" Ezio repeated.

"Yes."

"What kind of pie?" Yerman asked in little more than a joking manor.

The older recruit stared from each person before he announced the flavor with much seriousness. "Cherry."

"_Dios mio_... such a waste..." After another long moment, Ezio then told him, "Round up some of the younger recruits to clean this up and return to the den."

"Mentor, do you wish for me to help as well?" He seemed curious, but also was unsure he was happy with asking.

"Yes, you will." Ezio told him. "Or at least make sure that it gets cleaned up."

He nodded, slightly disappointed, before leaving the room. When he was gone, Ezio uncovered the former feline and sighed heavily.

"I need to start thinking of better places to hide things..."

Annette hummed her agreement as she paced. Their "guest" watched her with slight curiousity before she turned to something that no one else had. "Hide."

Annette stopped pacing, Yerman looked up, and Ezio stared at her in confusion. "What?"

She pulled the blanket back over herself as she repeated, "Hide. Hide!"

That was when the door opened again, Elif was standing there holding her side, the fabric of her robes clung with blood. Her legs were quaking under her own weight, and she shook with a chill that was not in the air. Small scarlet drops trailed down her hands, to her fingertips, and fell to the floor where they splattered. Her breathing was harsh and labored.

Right away, Ezio was on his feet and let her lean agaisnt him, taking some of the weight from her unstable frame. "What happened to you?"

Through unsteady intakes of air, she managed to say, "Byzantines... was spying... they found me..." She then stumbled forward, and would have fell to the floor had Ezio hadn't been supporting her. He took an arm over his shoulder as he opened the door with his free hand.

"Calm down, it will be alright." He told her. "You can tell me when I manage to fix these wounds." And with that, he half-carried her down the hall and to her room.

* * *

><p>"<em>So, you aren't a cat<em>."

Yusuf shook his furry head. Not only had he spent the entire night up explaining the WHOLE STORY to Sevmek, Hoca was actually interested enough to bombard him with questions. Soon the old cat fell asleep, but Sevmek still was swarming with questions. Most of them envolved repeating bits of the story.

"_And this 'key' turned you into one_."

"_Evet_," He confirmed. "That's basically what happened."

"_And that collar you're wearing_?" She asked.

He craned his head a bit to look down at the orange and gold striped fabric. "_It normally would be a headband, but my friend wanted to be able to find me again, so he made it look like a collar_."

She nodded, staring down at her paws as she grew quiet. "_I thought that_... _I'm sorry_..." She then stared to stand up, but he got to his feet first.

"_No, if this is anyone's fault_," Yusuf told her, "_then it's mine. I could have, and should have, told you and Hoca when you first found me. But I let it all slide by as unimportant_." In his mind, he wondered if Ezio would know how to handle this situation any better. But then again, what was he thinking?

Sevmek didn't even look at him, she just continued to walk away with her head down and ears drooping in the classical "DERPressed" look. He wasn't sure if he intended to say what he said next, or if it were all a reflex with guilt and his nagging conscience.

"_You could come with me, help me get out of here and back to the headquarters_." He told her, but quickly bit his own tongue in attempt to shut up, but what was said was said. It was too late to take his words back.

She stood frozen for what seemed like an hour before her ear twitched before both perked up and she turned to face him. "_You're not lying about this, Yusuf_? _Can I_?"

This was one of those situations where you HAVE to say yes unless you want to risk looking like a total jerk. He nodded, which she immediantly ran bck over and tackled him over playfully. He rolled over and got back up to his feet as she laughed.

"_Thanks. How do you expect to get out of here_?" Sevmek asked.

Good question... he didn't even know...

"_The window in the kitchen. We can get out through there_." Yusuf told her, it could work right? Right. All they needed to do was wait for Hoca.

Speaking of which, that Romani woman, Mirela had just opened the door and dropped the old cat in the room. Yusuf came up to him right away, but Sevmek paused breifly.

"_Hoca, we're getting out of here_," He told him.

The old short-haired cat blinked dazily before laughing, "_You're leavin'_? _But it's so nice here_!"

This brought a shock through both of them, Hoca was the one who grumbled about being a housecat since he got here, what could have happened in his time with Manuel (the most possessive man Yusuf had met in some time) to change his mind? Well he looked CLEAN for once, that was a start. But there was something about those glassy eyes that reminded him of a drunk man. But it was clear that Sevmek caught onto the issue.

"_Hoca, what have they done to you_?" She questioned. Then she stepped back, repulsed. "_Hoca, they didn't_-!"

Hoca purred and brushed past her before bouncing around like a kitten, meowing with delight. "_I didn't feel this young in a long time_!"

Yusuf would have arched an eyebrow had he been human. "_What's wrong with him_?" _I haven't seen someone this strange since one of the recruits were messing with incense_, he thought.

Sevmek sighed heavily with annoyance, disgust, and unease. "_The notails must have given him catnip, because I don't know what else would make him like this_."

"_Can we still take him with us_?" He wondered aloud.

Sevmek stared at Hoca, who was rolling around on his back purring loudly as he rubbed his head to the floor. "_Probably not_." She looked to him guiltily. "_We'll have to leave without him, or risk him hurting himself_."

"_Fine. Then we should go_." Yusuf told her, and when he was sure she listened, he paced to the door. Once again that roadblock stopped him. How did he plan to get out? An idea came to mind and he clawed at the wooden surface until it opened.

Mirela stood over him before a smile crossed her face, but Yusuf and Sevmek quickly ran out the door and down the stairs scurrying for the kitchen. Yusuf found himself almost stepped on, but thankfully Vali got out of the way as he ran past. Shock turned into retaliation as the Romanian chased after the two felines shouting, "Stop! Get back here!"

In the other room, Yusuf could hear Cyril speaking with Manuel. He heard one thing that made him freeze momentarily. "I was almost killed by an Assassin trying to spy on him. But the guard gave that coward the beating, and she ran away with her tail between her legs."

To him, the stakes were only higher now. He needed to get back to the Assassin Headquarters as soon as possible. And Vali chasing him wasn't helping either. There was only one shot at this, and this was it. Last thing he needed was to fail and get locked up.

With a strong leap up, he landed on the tabletop with Sevmek behind him. Early morning light inked the room, bathing them in orange and red as Vali came rushing in. He was too late to stop them at the table, they jumped to the counter and he, without time to correct himself, crashed into the wooden furniture and knocked it over. He sat awkwardly in a daze for less than a couple of moments before getting back to his feet in one last effort to stop the two, but Yusuf and Sevmek jumped out of the window racing across the tile roof to escape the building.

The former assassin clamored out of the window to get to them, but they had already put so much distance now as their paws scrapped over the rooftops. He dared to look back, just once, to see Vali in hot pursuit gaining on them. Fear of sharing the same fate as Hoca, and for the welfare of his brothers pushed him to run faster, just enough to outrun the man.

Almost to the edge, where he remembered the path down, he chanced a glance back to see Vali sink to his knees in defeat as he just watched them. They stared at each other for the longest of moments, both breathing hard from the chase. Pity seemed to settle into Yusuf, the guy probably wanted something to hold close to him. It didn't seem so unlikely. He sort of wanted to turn back and give him one last goodbye, to assure that he didn't completely hate him or something.

_"If you show your remorse, and you go back, you will never leave. Go while you still can."_ His mentor's words buzzed in his mind. He looked down at the wooden beamed, then back at Vali apologetically before hopping down to the first one. Maybe he'll get over it, but at least he still had Hoca. He could show that old cat some compassion. But no matter what reasons he could come up with for staying, the few reasons he had for leaving always outruled the rest. This was for the best.

**Alright! Sweet! Got this chapter done! Yusuf has just escaped the Templar headquarters! YAY!**


	10. Chapter 10

"How is she?"

The doctor, packing up his supplies in a bag, looked up to Ezio before saying, "I gave her a seditive, she refused to let me tend to the wounds otherwise."

"And how long until she'll be on her feet?" He questioned.

"Try to keep her in bed for a couple of weeks," The healer advised. "I'll come in before then to see how she is handling, but if she doesn't rest then nothing will get better."

The older nodded. "Okay, I'll make sure she does." Then he glanced at the door. "Is she awake right now?"

"No, I left her sleeping." He was informed.

Ezio nodded and let the doctor walk away. Then he paced for a moment before walking away from the door, he'd ask when she was awake. And he didn't want to be the one to do that.

Now for that cat-woman-shapeshifter-unknown-thing. He sighed heavily at the thought of going through another FIVE HOURS of trying to teach that thing how to speak, and getting so hung up on pronounciation. And on top of that, he left her with Annette, he doubted anything happened in the two hours he was gone with Elif. If Yerman was with her, nothing got done in these Headquarters, and he knew this well enough from one experience last month.

He had asked Yerman to check and see how many throwing knives needed to be purchased for all the recruits, and told Annette, who had just returned from a mission, to go polish her knife- seeing as it was dulling-. Ezio then left to speak with Yusuf, who at the time was sitting on the rooftops, and it turned into the two having a race with the ziplines. And it would be no surprise to know who the winning was. But it had been a good hour before he returned to ask Yerman how he was doing with the throwing knives, and found him and Annette on the couch talking. When he asked Annette about her dagger, and Yerman the throwing knives, they both gave him this deer-in-the-headlights sort of look before saying they didn't start them yet. Ezio ended up lecturing them both on the importance of getting your tasks done first thing so that if you got called away on a mission, then at least they got something done and would not need to do it when they got back. And Annette got a special mini lecture on how sharping a blade is very important unless you want to try and cut someone with a dull blade.

But to his surprise, shock, and sheer amazement, when he came back to his door, he heard talking through the door and pressed his ear to it.

"So what did you say your name was?" Annette asked quietly.

"Karışık," Another, oddly and infuriatingly familiar voice answered.

Upon hearing it, Ezio slammed the door wide open. Annette jumped behind a panicking Yerman, while the cat-woman, Karışık, held a pillow up as defence. Oh, a pillow will do her NO GOOD in this situation. You don't waste Ezio's time like that! And if you are, don't start acting normally around someone else! He'd get even, and now.

* * *

><p>Walking through the streets, Yusuf soon begun to hear the sounds of someone following them. At first, it was easy to ignore, but soon he needed to turn around, he had to know who was stalking him and Sevmek.<p>

Three cats, all toms. The center was a large russet furred one with a white hind paw, the two were practically identical to eachother. With tuffs of fur that almost resembled a chinstrap, and a sort of black and white suit coloration. The center one approached with a little more speed, which the two smaller toms mimicked quickly.

Then the two identical cats sang slowly, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality." A funny look from Yusuf and Sevmek didn't even silence the two. They continued. "Open your eyes. Look up to the skys and seeeeeeeeeeeee..."

The russet cat chimed in with, "I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy."

"Because I'm easy come, easy go," The two smaller cats continued. "little high, little low."

"Can you please stop?" Yusuf asked, but was left unheard.

All three kept singing as they followed them. "Any way the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me..." The russet tom finished with, "Toooo meee.."

They tried to walk away as the tom continued to sing, but he and his two friends wouldn't let them. And it was soon that he grew sick of the two cats PERSISTING with their music. Whenever he thought they were done, they only started up again. He asked maybe twelve times to SHUT THE HELL UP, but they refused to listen.

At some point it turned into the them changing the mood entirely. The russet fur sang, "I see a silloetto of man."

"SCARAMOUCHE! SCARAMOUCHE!" The two added. "Will you do that Fandango?"

All three sang loudly, "THUNDERBOLTS OF LIGHTNING! VERY VERY FRIGHTNING! ME!"

"Are you don-?" Yusuf wasn't given the chance to finish.

"Galileo! GALILEO! Galileo! GALILEO!" The two tuxetto cats sang. "Galileo! GALILEO! GALILEO FIGERO!"

And the third joined in with them with "MAGNIFICOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Sevmek shook her head in annoyance, and Yusuf was about to ask if they were finished when the russut continued.

"I'm just a poor kit, noboby loves me."

"HE'S JUST A POOR KIT FROM A POOR FAMILY!" The two smaller cats sang. "SPARE HIM THIS LIFE FROM THIS MONSTROSITY!"

"Easy come, easy go. Will you let me go?" The russut went on.

"BISMILLAH! NO! WE WILL NOT LET YOU GO!" The smaller cats sang. "LET HIM GO! BISMILLAH! WE WILL NOT LET YOU GO! LET HIM GO! BISMILLAH! WE WILL NOT LET YOU GO! LET ME GO! NEVER LET YOU GO! LET ME GO!"

"NEVER NEVER NEVER!" The russut sang. "LET ME GOOOOOOOO!"

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"

"OH MAMA MIA! OH MAMA MIA!"

"MAMA MIA LET ME GO! BEELZEBUB HAS A DEVIL PUT ASIDE FOR ME! FOR MEEEE! FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

At this point, Yusuf and Sevmek ran to get as far away from those three as possible, seeing as all they have done was confuse, and annoy them both out of their wits. Stupid _Italian cats and their Italian music_, Yusuf thought with resentment.

**Yup, this is where my fic gets random and pointless for a chapter. OH WELL! :D We made one good discovery, that Ezio just wasted a few hours of his life. And poor Yusuf is stuck with singing cats who think they got talent.  
>The song used was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I own nothing, and no this was not a song fic, I just got REALLY BORED and this song was playing...<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

"Alright, I'm not going to ask this again."

"Okay."

"Do you-" Ezio put slowly. "-know where a cat named Yusuf might be?"

Karışık stared at him in confusion before looking off to the distance and putting a hand on her chin. Then she sighed and shook her head. "No. I do not know. I never heard of him. Is he from the South side?"

Ezio facepalmed and turned around to pace across the room, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index and thumb to ease the throb that had started in his head. Listening to this one was more than frustrating, it was pointless and a waste of time. An absolute waste of his viliant time and effor-.

"But I do know some good spots where a cat might hide if they have to, good ones that are hard to come across."

Upon hearing that, Ezio looked up and turned back to her._ Did she finally just say something USEFUL? _He thought.

"What?"

"I know some good hiding spots," She repeated. "Your friend might be in one."

"Where do we start first?" Annette asked, standing up excitedly.

She tapped her small chin in thought before stating, "I do not know what you call it. But we always referred to it was the Water Yard. It has all these giant wooden structures that float on the water like fowl."

"The Arsenal," Yerman concluded. "But why so far away?"

"I don't even know if Yusuf could have crossed the river." Ezio added.

"You want to find your friend or not?" Karışık questioned with annoyance, teeth bared. They were one of the few things that hadn't changed so drastically, her canines ending in sharper, longer points than a normal person, the front teeth were small and tightly compact, as for what would be molars, they were razor-like trianglar points. They were meant for tearing up meat, he knew well enough.

Ezio nodded.

"Then listen to me." She warned, then stood up. "Now come on. I do not thing he will wait forever."

With those words, they started out to the Arsenal.

* * *

><p>"It's so musty down here..."<p>

"I told you before," Shahkulu hissed through his helmet. "Stop complaining before I run a spear through you!"

The soldier looked back in horror, Shahkulu did have his spear strapped to his back, and he had the murderous-mad-man complex to go through with his threat without second thought or any sort of remorse. It was surprising they had been digging for a day and a half with this guy in charge, and no sort of casualty yet.

He sighed and turned back to the axe in his hand and continued to pick at the dirt and rock. This would be a long dig.

* * *

><p>He felt a strange pain in his limbs he did not recall having before.<p>

Sure the peircing sense of hunger knarreled at him, but he had grown used to the feeling of an empty stomach. It eerily reminded him of when he was so much younger, before he was recruited to the Assassins, when he arrived at Istanbul he had been little more than a petty theif. Looking to cut the purses off of unsuspecting civilians' belts in order to pay for his next meal, having to run as far as he could when he was caught, sinking into the shadows when he was creeping in towards his next victim, and the ache of hunger when he was unable to make enough to pay for even a small fruit at the cheapest of vendors. He remembered it all as though it happened only last week.

It was simply the knowing of slowly loosing his sense of judgement, the knowledge that he had gotten so far as to eating a songbird raw simply to ease the groan of his shrinking stomach, that drove him to stive harder to get back to the hideout, find Ezio, and return to normal. He wanted, no NEEDED, to be back in his own body, return to the life he had.

But this new pain, he didn't recall having it before, it throbbed with ease pulse of his heart, his vision had become cloudy with spots and floaters he tried to chase away. Had that bird been enough to settle him one day? Apparently not. Although Sevmek implored he stop with her and try to hunt something, he refused and waited for her to finish eating what she managed to catch. The reak of blood hitting his nostrils, making his mouth water as his stomach gurgled, and his stare turn into one of longing at the carcuse that he watched the white feline bite into. It was surprising even to him how he managed not to run off again in desperation. And when Sevmek swiped her tongue over her reddened muzzle, he was once again reminded by the pain that he passed up another chance to feed himself.

I'm going to make this shorter for you guys who skipped those big paragraphs. He was f-ing STARVING himself.

Anyways, he didn't remember his legs ever hurting, maybe he was tired, it could have been a reasonable answer. But he knew that it couldn't be true, he wasn't tired at all. He had been asleep an hour ago, how could he possibly be tired again?

So he settled on the concept that maybe his legs were just sore from all the walking. They had in fact been keeping their quick pace until they had reached the docks and snuck onto a boat. When they were found and unceremoniously thrown off at the next dock, they scurried away from the unhappy man swinging at them with a broom.

Then he looked up to the rooftops, hoping to see one of his recruits.

Guess who he did see.

Ezio was running across the rooftops with what appeared to be Annette and Yerman behind him, and some stranger woman dressed in simple clothing.

Desperate, he ran after than, trying to call out to his friend, but also knowing that as a cat, his friend would neither understand or hear him. He needed his attention somehow. But no matter what he did, it was no good, Ezio quickly was out of hearing range, and hadn't noticed him AT ALL.

Jeez, you'd think this old man, who says he a mentor, would notice a cat on the ground from the rooftops. And he brags about having "hightened senses". _HIGHENED SENSES MY ASS!_ Yusuf cursed to himself. If he did then he would have seen him! Or took note! But no. Just no!

Heated with irritation, he turned and coontinued to the hideout. It wasn't far now.

**Yup, leave it to Ezio to miss Yusuf when he was right there. Nice going...**


	12. Chapter 12

"So we're at the Arcenal."

Ezio scanned the area, slightly assured to see no sign of guards to stare at him searching. It was one good thing. But he still needed to find Yusuf, and that was final. He turned back to Karışık and waited for her to tell him where the hiding spots were.

"What?" She blinked. This made him almost want to throw her in the water. Almost.

"Where are those hiding spots?" He questioned.

"Oh!" She giggled before pointing up to the crows-nest of a big ship. "Sometimes cats climb up that big pole and get stuck, maybe he did."

Nodding, Ezio walked up onto the ship, ignored the startled crew, and started to climb up the mast. But soon, impatience got the better of him, and he started to use his hookblade to propel himself up. It worked for a while, until the blade cut the rope and he fell back down to the deck with a loud CRASH (and screaming "CAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZOOOOOO!" all the way down). The noise jolted Yerman from his thoughts and made Annette almost to run up and see if he was okay.

But of course, this is Ezio we're talking about. It doesn't matter if he hit is spine on a box at top speed. He just got back up, brushed himself off, and started to climb again. Although this time he didn't even use his hookblade out of fear of falling again.

A fight and whining drew Yerman's attention away from Ezio scaling the mast to see Karışık kicking a defenceless puppy. He ran up and stopped her before checking the dog to be sure it was fine. Unfortunately, she brutalized the poor thing, and him being a dog person and all, he picked it up and tucked it close to him before returning to Annette. And dragging that anti-canine-cat-lady by the ear in the process.

"Is that a puppy?" Annette asked, surprised.

"_Evet_," Yerman answered.

"But why-?"

"You're watching that thing," He told her harshly, pointing a thumb to Karışık, who was glaring at the small puppy murderously.

Sighing, Annette stepped sideways, just a little closer to the cat-woman. Then she looked up to see Ezio in the crows-nest, looking down at her. She could just barely here him.

"HE'S NOT UP HERE!"

"COME BACK DOWN THEN!" She shouted back.

"NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR RACK!" He replied loudly.

"THE HELL?" She yelled at him. "I SAID TO GET BACK DOWN HERE!"

"WHAT'S WITH YOU AND BEERS?"

Annette facepalmed before pointing to the ground at her feet and glaring up at him. "GET. BACK. DOWN. HERE. NOW!"

"OH!" Ezio then looked around before announcing. "I THINK I'M STUCK!"

"JUMP INTO THE WATER OR SOMETHING!" She advised.

She watched as Ezio lept off from the crows-nest and hit the water with a 6 meter splash. When he surfaced, he was holding his side and just barely managed to drag himself on the docks. "Owwwww..." He groaned.

Yerman and Annette both crouched down beside him and the latter asked, "What happened?"

"I hit the bottom..." He grumbled before ringing out his robes and taking off his boots to shake out the water. "I will never climb up there again..."

"What took you so long?" Yerman asked, oblivious to the shouting just a couple minutes ago.

"I found a book location." Ezio answered, standing up and walking off the docks to a patch of dirt before digging up a book with his hands. "See?"

Both recruits never could be sure what Ezio's real motive for climbing that mast was.

* * *

><p>He smiled in content as he studied the map. They had made so much progress.<p>

"Lord Shahkulu!" A soldier whined, holding his stomach dramatically. "I'm starving, can we please stop and take a break?"

This made the easily irritated man groan and helmetpalm. "Who else is hungry?" He didn't know how much he'd regret the answer.

Almost everyone moaned and groaned with "I AM!", "Yes, I am SOOOOO HUNGRY!", or even "PLEEEAAASE LET US TAKE A BREAK!"

Upon hearing the complaints, he grumbled in irriation, stormed out of the tunnel, killed a couple of riflemen, took the rifles and shot two Jannissaries having a picnic out in the park. He picked up the basket, and, eating a kabob through his helmet, he walked back. There he threw the basket at their feet where they all went to it like a bunch of starved dogs and attacked the basket in hopes of finding a morsel to eat.

One held up the basket in disappointment, "Lord Shahkulu, there's nothing in here!"

Crossing his armed, the phyico-vengence-bent-Ottoman-hating-torturer glared through the eye slits of his helmet. "If you are so hungry, then you will eat the basket."

Upon hearing this, almost all of the soldiers returned to their pickaxes and hammers to continue digging. Well almost all of them. One of them, a scrawny, pitiful thing they threw armor on and called a soldier, hung by the basket and soon picked it up and begun to chew on it. but he wasn't doing this for very long, because Shahkulu decided he would stop him.

"No." He pushed the basket and hand down from the man's face and took the woven material from him before dropping some coins in the palm. "Here's some coins, go buy yourself a proper meal. But be back here within a half hour."

Thankful, the soldier hugged Shahkulu before running off to purchase some food. Everyone else just stared at Shahkulu in shock and annoyance.

"Why'd you give him money?" The first complained.

"Because he was starving to the point where he'd eat a basket." Shahkulu answered harshly. "Now back to work before I run my spear through all of you!"

Everyone got back to work while Shahkulu continued to look at the map.

Yup, Shahkulu has a heart. It's just small, shrivelled up, black, and has been through years of disuse.

* * *

><p>Yusuf was walking down another alley way with Sevmek when he heard a familiar voice.<p>

"Zo Iz am ze newz leaderz!"

All the fur along his spine stood, it was that dog! Didn't one fo the cats blind him or something? And didn't he drown? Oh well! He was alive!

"Dis is going to bes so much funs!" The other really stupid dog chimed excitedly.

"Myz firzt orderz ofz buzinezz iz wez goz and killz that fleabagz catz." The new leader announced.

"Where is he?" He wondered aloud, and begun to pace towards the voices before he saw the new leader, with claw mark scars over his eyes and across one, the other was still working fine, standing on a box with the dizzy dog by his side. Unlike him, that dog's eyes were fine, there was just scars over them, which he assumed they were both blinded by the blood getting into their eyes at the time. There were maybe twenty-six other dogs all turned and facing him, if not more.

"Thiz iz forz ourz old leaderz!" He barked. "Findz himz and bringz himz back herez!"

Sevmek was crouching now, ready to bolt, but Yusuf only stayed frozen stiff in shock. He was still surprised that those two mutts even lived!

"How did this guy become pack leader?" One complained lowly.

"I don't know," the one beside him agreed. "But his choice in right paw dogs is terrible..."

Suddenly, the ears on the new second-in-command flew up as he jumped in excitement. "BOSS! I FOUNDS HIM! I FOUNDS DA PUTTY CAT!"

"GETZ HIMZ!" The leader growled.

Before Yusuf could run, all the dogs turned to face him, he could only stand there before Sevmek bit his scruff and practically DRAGGED him away and into a crevas in the wall as the dogs thundered past in prosuit.

"What's wrong with you?" She hissed quietly. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"I just-" He found himself stammoring, he couldn't even explain why he hadn't moved. "I don't..."

"Great Ancestors, Yusuf! I swear, if it weren't for me, then you would have been dead so many times." She sighed before laying down. "We might as well wait them out..."

He nodded and let his weak legs buckle underneath him. Maybe he could get to the headquarters when those dogs had past.


	13. Chapter 13

It was late at night by the time the dogs had past, and now, after climbing up boxes and crates to get a little closer to an open window (Yerman ALWAYS kept it open to air out his sweat stench) he was pretty much home. Yusuf sighed with bitter relief. He could go in, find Ezio, and go back to normal...

Sevmek had decided when he reached home that she was better off a street cat, and left. Now, he hoped that she wouldn't be mauled by the dogs.

Standing outside the window, he noticed Ezio, Annette, and Yerman all down below in the streets, entering the hideout. He'd wait here for them. He was out of the way now, he would be fine. Besides, dogs can't climb, so while they barked and scraped at the wall below, he was safe and sound on the ledge out of their reach.

Yerman's door opened as the exhauted recruit scuffled in, grumbling to himself. Absent mindedly, he crashed down on the bed and buried his face in the pillow. Yusuf tried to get his attention, meowing and scratching at the stone, but soon, out of annoyance, the man kicked the window shut. In process, it also shoved Yusuf backwards and off the ledge!

Ever heard a caterwale? Yes? No? Of course you haven't. Well while Yusuf was practically screeching in panic. This wasn't BY ANY MEANS safe. He was small, there were dogs, and no haystack. And with a crash, he hit the ground and seeped into darkness.

* * *

><p>Yerman sat up right away when he heard some loud "REEEEEEOOOOW!" just outside his window when he kicked it shut. And quickly, he threw the pane open and looked down to see dogs mauling something. Panic settled in as he bolted down the stairs, shoved Ezio out of the way, and ran outside with a broom (most deadly and feared weapon) to start smacking the dogs away.<p>

"SCAT! SHOO! GET. THE. F-. AWAY. YOU. F-ING. FLEABAGS!" He shouted with each blow. Quickly the dogs retreated and he looked down to see a limp form on the ground. He sunk to the cobblestone and scooped it up to find it to be a Turkish Angora with Yusuf's headband. His heart seemed to stop for a moment before pounding. Then he rushed inside, and, once again, shoved Ezio aside who was about to see what the hell just happened.

He laid the feline Master Assassin down on the pillow before searching around frantically for something to use to stop the bleeding. That was when Ezio opened the door.

* * *

><p>Ezio opened the door and had to do a double take at what he saw. Blood on the floor. Blood on the bed. Blood on Yerman's hands. And a mauled cat on a now blood stained pillow. Just blood and blood stains. And most startling, the cat was Yusuf.<p>

Yerman appeared in shock, confusion, and above all fear. He had been throwing an asortment of objects aside to find something. Probably bandages. His arm was bleeding heavily, and his eyes wide as full moons. The recruit seemed on the verge of collapsing with his unstable legs and trembling frame.

But he still felt the need to ask. "Yerman, what happened?"

You don't expect much of these sorts of emotions from someone like Yerman, Ezio knew. Sure pride, and the occassional disappointment. But not this. This was dramatic. Yerman broke down right there, putting his hands on his face and sobbing before returning to digging for bandages with blood smeared on his cheeks and forehead, and tears streaming from his eyes. "Ben öyle bir salak değilim! Ben sadece Yusuf öldürmüş olabilir!"

Since Ezio's Turkish is just flat out horrible, according to Nesim, he knitted his eyebrows. Then he stepped in to pick the bandages off of Yerman's desk and handing them to him. "Now tell me what happened, a little slower this time."

Yerman, still crying, took the bandages and went straight to Yusuf's limp body. Where he went straight to wrapping the wounds up around his legs and back and sides. When he was done, he took an extra moment to check to see that the feline was still breathing, very faintly. This brought some relief, but it didn't stop him from sinking to the floor and hugging his legs before sobbing into his knees. Ezio could only pat his back and hope he would answer.

"I... I closed the window on him... I almost killed him, Mentor... It's all my fault..." Yerman murmured under his quivering breaths. "I pushed him into a bunch of dogs... and... they attacked him..."

The old man nodded quietly. It wasn't all that great, but at least Yerman hadn't meant to. With this, he left and returned with the key Yusuf had touched in the first place (if you forgot already, turn back to the first chapter), and Annette and Karışık behind him. He carefully placed the key down on the bed and pressed it's shimmering surface towards his friend, then pressed the cat woman's hand to it as well.

And you know what happened? No seriously, do you? Because I hardly know. AND I WAS THERE WITH A VIDEO CAMERA AND LAPTOP!

Alright, I'll tell you. There was an insanely bright flash of light, to which everyone covered their eyes from to avoid their cornias frying, and then a brief moment of darkness.

Karışık had changed back into a cat, thankfully, and was just starting to shake off the effects of the abrupt transformation. But Yusuf, however, was not close to the definition of "normal".

So he was about the size of a cat still, but now he had this sort of bipedial, humanish shape. Large triangular ears rests on the top of his head, his nose was sort of feline like, but the mouth came in separate. Whiskers still stuck to his fur thickly fur covered cheeks (he still had all his fur). A tail was still present, and his feet were sort of paw like, long but the toes small and rounding together. His arms were back, as were his thumbs, but his fingers still posessed sharp claws.

In sort, he was some cross. And it had done some to his injuries, the bleeding had slowed and stopped in some places.

The question now was could Yusuf speak? And would he panic over his appearence? Because now it was impossible to ever let him outside without someone freaking out and swinging a broom at him. All they could hope was that he could wake up soon so they could further evaluate the situation.

**Alright, so Yusuf is a cat-man-hybrid-thing now. fantastic...  
>Sorry these chapters are getting delayed, I'm working on a costume for a convention. (Gonna be a bureau leader (pics to come on my dA page))<strong>

**Have a great day everyone and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.**


	14. Chapter 14

Everything felt heavy. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. It was almost like something was pressing down on him.

"Yerman, you know that hanging over him like this won't help," a familiar voice lectured. "Give him some breathing room."

_Yerman... hadn't he...?_ Confusion laid thick in his mind as he tried to remember what happened. Why did he feel so sore? And what about the odd feeling of some extra appendage? His ear twitched, which startled him. That wasn't normal, was it?

"Yusuf?" Came a hopeful voice.

He groaned in responce and shifted towards the noise. "...Wut...?" Damn he sounded weird...

"Mentor! He can speak!" The voice cheered.

"That's good," the first one responded. "Get some sleep Yusuf, you need the rest."

Though he felt like there was something he had to tell them, he was too exhausted and too groggy to recall it. So he willingly slipped back into the darkness of his unconscious mind.

-0-0-

It was probably a lot later, but he felt strong enough to lift his heavy head off the pillow as he blinked with sleep glazed eyes and yawned. To him it sounded like a sort of silent hiss, but he ignored it. He expected it to be easy dragging himself out of bed, his only set back being the fact that he was exhausted, but he quickly learned otherwise.

The moment he blindly pushed off the edge, he fell... down and down until he crashed on the floor in a sprawl. When'd his bed get so high without touching the ceiling anyways? He shook the question off and rubbed his tired eyes to rid himself of the blurred sight. But it did little.

"Ezzio?" If his voice, thick with sleep, before had sounded weird to him, then this was bazzare. "Ezzio ware ar yo?" Honestly it sounded like he was having trouble forming the words themselves. Like his tongue just didn't want to make sentences correctly.

Footsteps. He could hear them. "Yusuf? Are you alright in there?"

"Ezzio?" He slurred looking up at the door as it opened. He could see his friend's darkened figure looming over him.

"Come on," he said, picking him up like a small animal. "Let's get you back to bed."

But he remembered what he needed to tell him now! He dug his nails into Ezio's thumb. "Ezzio... I know wut teh Templer's ar plannin'."

For a moment Ezio froze, but he still put him down on the bed. "You need the rest. Wait before you tell me."

"But ther might not beh time..." Yusuf reasoned. "Templers plan on attacin' teh Norf Contantin Den."

The words, though just fairly reconizable, hung in the air with more an impact than anything. "But the South Constantine Den had a bomb explosion a few days ago."

"But they plan on attacin' whil were distacked." He explained. "Ther tunnelin' under teh growd so they can com out from the inside."

He heard a sigh. "Alright. We'll take care of it. But for now, get some rest. I will make sure the Assassins there know about this."

**I know a little late. But here it is.**


	15. Chapter 15

Shahkulu glanced down at his map. "Alright, and now all we need to do is dig up."

One of his men nodded and picked at the ceiling of the tunnel until he broke a hole to the surface, and poked his head out. It seemed like everything was insanely bright, and so he blinked rapidly for a moment before his vision adjusted. And there he found himself staring at the toe of a boot. Eyes wide, he looked up to see the rest of an Assassin simply standing with his arms crossed, oblivious to him. Worse, his head was just outside the den. Quickly, he ducked his head back in and whispered to Shahkulu.

"We're right at the door, and there's an assassin guarding it."

The helmeted man glared down at the map before ripping it in two. "$* %#^& Cyril and his fat hands being used as a measuring tool. Keep digging just a little further."

So they kept digging for what semed like another hour before he had them make a hole again.

This time however, when the lookout peeped out, he was staring back at five assassins, all of which appeared very unamused at his appeared. "Ehhehehe... Hi?"

And all five pulled out bombs.

The templars all ran like mad at that point, and a few seconds later, the bombs went off and the tunnel collapsed. The hideout of course was fine, but the street caved in and was ruined. Random civilians just stared for a couple of seconds before moving on.

Ezio, with a half-feline Yusuf on his shoulder, stood along with a few den leaders. "Well, I'd say that worked flawlessly."

"But the road, Mentor," one pointed out.

He grinned a little.

"Oh no..."

"We'll fix it then." Ezio proclaimed, pulling a shovel out of nowhere.'

Both recruits simply stared with looks of "wut dah faqk?"

* * *

><p>Ezio, Yerman, and Yusuf (still half cat) all stood around the desk before Ezio finally sighed and rubbed his temples. "I have no idea how to reverse this..."<p>

It was a long silence and then a loud "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Yusuf, still screaming, now in Turkish, grabbed the first key he could get a hold of and started to slam it around in frustration. Of course, Ezio would have reclaimed the key, but didn't want to find his shin bashed in. And Yerman... just didn't know what to do.

And honestly, the half cat man took his anger out on the key very brutally. Throwing, biting, smacking, punting, and cursing at it with failing hopes that it would trigger something.

"Yusuf." Ezio said, trying to remain calm. But damn it, if he actually managed to break one of those keys, he wouldn't be able to open the library. However, Yusuf was still too busy venting with the key to notice or care. "Yusuf," he repeated again, a little louder. Still no responce as the key was still being bashed into his desk, and breaking through the wood. "YUSUF!" He shouted, snatching the key as it was about to be chewed on again. "It WON'T WORK! Having a fit won't change ANYTHING!"

Still fuming, Yusuf glared at him with vemon in his eyes before taking the key back from the old man's hand. "IF THIS DOESN'T WORK THEN JUST FEED ME TO THE DOGS OUTSIDE!" Then he chucked the key at the wall. It fell with a loud clatter on the floor.

But nothing.

With a defeated breath, Yusuf turned away to the door with a, "If you need me, I'm going to go get eaten."

Yerman stammered a second after, "But, Mentor-!"

"No no, don't say anything," the cat-man interrupted, "I'm useless if I can't hold my sword, so why bother."

Ezio was looking form the key to Yusuf, but said nothing.

That's when Yusuf staggered with sudden dizziness and fell to the floor. Darkness swiftly overcame his vision.

* * *

><p>"Yusuf? Yusuf? Hello, Yusuf?"<p>

The man blinked slowly in responce to the distant, echoing voices to find his sight only made him feel ill with it's swaying. "ugh..."

Ezio and Yerman were both standing over him, staring down. And Annette was a little further back, blushing heavily, and appearing on the verge of fainting. Right away, he jerked up to a sit and found himself staring at NORMAL, HUMAN feet! Gasping with surprise, he wiggled his toes about before looking a little more to find another thing. He was pretty much naked, but someone had some kindness to lay a blanket over his lap. And his ears couldn't even twitch! He looked at his hands, now his normal hands again.

"Looks like you're back to normal." Ezio stated, smiling a little as he was wiping spit off of the key and placing it on his desk.

Yusuf didn't really notice the man's remark as he kept checking everywhere, even lifting up the blanket to check his... equipment. He jumped up to his feet and ran around in circles screaming, "I AM BACK!"

Of course, Yerman was covering his eyes, scarred for life. Annette was still staring, more shocked now and face still getting redder by the second. And Ezio picked up the blanket and threw it at him. "Would you like all your recruits to see your bare ass?"

The now normal man flushed and wrapped the blanket around his waist and ran out of the room singing, "I AM HUMAN AGAIN! I AAAAAM HUMAN AGAIN! LALALALA! I AM HUMAN AGAIN!"

What they didn't know at the time was that they would learn that Yusuf retained the ability to purr, and although it was offered to be fixed, he refused over and over.

_Fini_

**Hope you guys liked this fic, and I'm sorry it took me a while. I just was on massive brainfart and didn't know what to write.**

**Moral of the story: When someone tells you not to touchy the shiny thing, don't touch the shiny thing.**

**EDIT: I forgot about poor little Annette and just had to add her and her awkwardness into this somehow. So pardon me for this revise.**


	16. Epilogue Part 1

It was a week after being returned to normal, and Yusuf was still cheerful. Heck, he had been dancing around in that blanket for a day and a half before Ezio shoved him into his room and locked the door until he got some proper clothes on. I don't even think Annette will be able to get these images out of her innocent little head.

Anyways, it was a week after he was humanized or whatever it's called. And Yusuf was walking about the streets, sort of looking around. And that's when he found a pethetic scrape of white fur curled up under a box. He kneeled down and stared at it for a while before it hit him.

"Sevmek?" Carefully, he brushed his finger against the creature's spine, causing it to stir. A moment later, he found himself staring back at bicolored eyes of a Turkish Angora. Yup, that was her alright. He smiled a little. "Seems I found you, friend."

The cat pulled away and moved deeper into the box. And there where she had been lying a second ago, Yusuf spotted the blood stain. He stared with alarm.

"Did the dogs hurt you?" he once again reached for her, and carefully pulled her out of the box. Though she tried to hold on with her claws in protest. Once he managed to get her out, he saw her front paw was terribly injured; torn and still bleeding. He felt sort of bad now. It could have been dogs, or something else. He wasn't sure. Still, that didn't stop him from wanting to help her.

So he held her in his arms and carried her back to the hideout, where he found Ezio studying a new key (pfft, more like mindlessly staring at it). He lightly tapped Ezio's shoulder, but the old man didn't seem to notice. A heavy sigh, Yusuf tapped the Master Assassin's shoulder again, a little harder this time. Still nothing. He put Sevmek down on the desk and pondered on whether or not he should shake Ezio by the shoulders.

Eh, he could wait.

Yusuf sat down on the desk, and waited. And waited. Sevmek, however, didn't. She proded around at the objects on the desk, most notably the keys. He hadn't noticed until it was too late.

A flash of light and Yusuf was thrown off the desk. He blinked in surprise when he realized the shockwave came from the key in Ezio's HAND. In fact, the old man's chair fell back and Ezio was laying flatout unconscious on the floor. And Sevmek? She wasn't there. Or at least he didn't see her until he moved to the other side of the desk and found a woman laying on the floor... naked of course.

Who to go to first? Unconscious Ezio or unconscious Sevmek?

No contest.

Yusuf went right over to Ezio and shook him around a little. But it was no use. His friend's head lulled back on his shoulders as he remained out cold.

Well this wasn't good for anyone.

With a heavy sigh, Yusuf was in the process of moving Sevmek out of sight when Annette and Yerman came running in from the noise. And more importantly, Elif too came down, though wobbly -she was still recovering. But sure enough, she looked from Ezio to Sevmek to Yusuf and fainted.

Yup, this was definately not good for ANYONE.

Yerman let his head fall in his hands as he groaned. "Oh no... not all this again."

"Who's the girl?" Annette asked curiously.

Yusuf looked down at Sevmek, then back at the two recruits. "Well... um..."

"And what happened to Mentor?" Annette asked.

Yerman glanced down at Elif. "This is bad..."

"I'll explain later," Yusuf told them. "Just do me a favor and help me bring them upstairs."

Of course, Yerman seemed interested now. "Can I carry that girl there?"

"Actually, I can handle her." Yusuf told him. "But if you could get Ezio, that would be much appreciated."

By default, that meant Annette hand to half drag Elif up the stairs and get her to bed. So Yerman begrudgently tried to pull Ezio up to hold him, but quickly found the old man to be heavy as f-. And Yusuf? Well, Sevmek was pretty light, he didn't have any problems.

It took another ten minutes until Yerman managed to get Ezio up the stairs and into his room. And by the time he got there, he had worked up quite a sweat. Yusuf had taken a blanket from his own room and wrapped up Sevmek. And Annette had been sitting on the floor before getting up to help put their mentor in his bed.

Hum... seems sh-t just hit the fan.

* * *

><p>Ezio groaned loudly as he felt his head throb. He slowly brought his hand up to rub his forehead. God, what's with this killer headache? Last time it was this bad, he was getting off one hellova hangover from a drinking binge with Volpe... Wait... did he get drunk? Eh... probably not... he'd gone cold turkey. Besides, oddly enough, the last thing he remembered was Altair trying to escape Masyaf after Maria had been killed... Wait... that was in the key.<p>

What else did he remember... Um... bright light, an explosion... or something like that.

Oh well, best not worry about it now. He slowly opened his eyes and found his vision quite blurry at first. So he had to blink and focus a few times until his eyes managed to clear up.

And what does he find staring back at him?

Some naked woman sitting on his lap with long black hair hanging over her shoulders and bicolored eyes peering curiously at him. Her hands were pressing down on his stomach as added support, and she tilted her head as he had come to.

In reaction, Ezio was about to shoot up, but hit his head on the shelf over his bed. He put his hand back to his head and groaned. "_Cazzo_..."

"Ezio, you're up!"

Ezio glanced over to see Yusuf stand up from a chair on the other side of the room. Also in the room was Yerman and Annette. _What in the world...?_

Though Yerman cracked up. "Did you see how red his face was when he saw her, Annette?"

Alright... so Ezio was taken a little off guard by some naked woman sitting on his lap. Okay... that's an understatement. He was confused, startled, and a bit turned on (he's a guy, what can I say) by this random woman sitting on his lap.

"What's going on...?" He grumbled.

Yusuf faultered and sighed. "You know how I was changed into a cat?"

"I'm not senile, of course I do." Ezio responded.

"Well, you see, I hadn't gotten back to the hideout on my own. I had been going along side another cat." He glanced at the woman for a moment before forcing a chuckle. "Um... Ezio, meet Sevmek."

Ezio turned his stare back to this Sevmek person-or-cat-or-whatever. But he couldn't help his wandering eyes (he, like most of us, suffers from elevator eyes (come on, we've seen how his stare goes right to Sofia's chest when he talks to her)), _she's fairly young looking, has wirey limbs, a very nice figure, really nice-_

"She sort of touched the key you were examining." Yusuf explained, interrupting Ezio's thoughts.

"Right. Right." Ezio responded. "Could you answer something for me?"

"Sure."

"What is she doing on my _lap_?" It's funny. He said it in a completely monotonous voice.

"Hehe..." Yusuf rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not entirely sure... I guess she likes you?"

Ezio glanced sideways at him as Sevmek took his finger and lightly nibbled on his knuckle. "You don't say."

"I told them to get her something to cover her up," Annette put in.

"Yeah, it's a damn shame no one _cares_," Yerman retorted.

Choosing to ignore them, he decided to try and ask her to get off. And guessed that meant he needed to speak Turkish. "_Sevmek, lütfen eğer benim çük almak__.._." But his request was ended midsentence with Yerman's shocked choking noise. Ezio glanced at him and noticed Annette, sitting next to him, was blushing brilliant red and Yusuf seemed more or less awkward. "What?"

"Um... I don't know if you know what you just said," Yusuf said, forcing a straight face.

"Isn't that 'please get off my lap'?" Ezio asked.

All three shook their heads.

Sevmek, of course, repeated, "_Çük?_"

Alone, Ezio reconized the word and felt his face burn. "N-no! I didn't mean anything like that!"

"Don't worry about it too much," Yusuf assured. "We all know you're Turkish is boarderline insulting. Besides, I don't think she understands that word."

"_Çük?_" Sevmek repeated, grabbing Ezio's wrist and staring with a questioning look.

"Um.. no," Ezio said, trying to figure out how to get her off of him.

Her hand moved to his chest. "_Çük?_"

"No," he said again.

She was about to move her hand again when Yusuf decided to end this fairly awkward situation. "_Sevmek, ben Ezio onun olan herhangi bir şey kapma ihtiyacı olduğunu sanmıyorum_."

"_O neden sormak __ki?_" She said, glancing over to him. Ezio was trying to translate everything as best he could in his head. Yusuf had said something like 'he didn't need anything of his grabbed' and Sevmek asked 'why did he ask'.

"_O_ _bir salak_," Yusuf told her. "_Eğer onun kucağına kapalı olsun eder misiniz?_"

"You know I can understand you." Ezio said a little insulted.

"Says the same person who asked her to grab his _çük_." Yusuf told him flatly.

But whatever the heck Yusuf said to Sevmek worked, because she got off of Ezio. And now she stood at the side of the bed. Annette picked up a blanket off the floor and wrapped it over Sevmek's shoulders.

"That couldn't have been more awkward," she sighed, exasperated.

Ezio sat up and asked, "So... should we get to fixing this?"

Yusuf nodded. "I think that might be for the best."

So everyone got downstairs and gathered around Ezio's desk while they had Sevmek touch the key. Only they found it didn't work. Even when they expected a delayed reaction, nothing happened. Yerman groaned.

"I don't get it. What could have gone differently?" He wondered.

Ezio stroked his beard. "Prehaps it depends on the key. Because it seems that the results differ every time."

"What?" Annette tilted her head.

"While Yusuf was missing, we had that other cat in here and changed her into a human. But that was with a different key than the one that changed Yusuf. And the first time I tried to change Yusuf back along with the other cat, I used the second key. It turned the cat back no problem. But Yusuf was some hybrid and not human. Prehaps its the same thing."

"Is that the key she touched in the first place?" Yerman asked.

"Yes," Yusuf and Ezio both sighed in unisession.

"So much for that idea..." Annette mumbled.

"What do we do?" Yerman asked.

"I'll try and think of something." Ezio said. "Yusuf, how about you watch over your friend."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Annette asked. "Maybe I should."

"No I'm sure," Ezio assured. "They know each other by now, so it shouldn't be too bad."

**I dunno guys. I just don't know. I got a comment from one of you guys saying that you wished to see when Yusuf found out that he could purr. Well, it's a long story. So I'll just stick in an Epilogue.**

**Also, about the whole bit with Sevmek on Ezio's lap and the very awkward conversation, allow me to shed some light on that unless you gave up and used Google Translate.  
><strong>**çük means dick in Turkish. And what Ezio had asked was something like, "Sevmek, please, if you will grab my dick..." Yeah... it's a bit dirty. Sorry 'bout that. But then again, I've been referencing to some naughty things with naked people a few times in the fic already.**

**And about the "elevator eyes" thing. We've all got them. We're supposed to look someone in the face, but instead our gazes drop to something else like their chest or legs or... well you get the idea. And Ezio's a prime offender with his eyes always dropping to Sofia's chest when he sees her. Yeah I know that dress is rediculously low cut, but dude, get a grip.**


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